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Round About 
Jamestown 

Historical Sketches of the 

Lower Virginia 

Peninsula 



By 



AVIS 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JUN 12 1907 

Gowneht Entry 

CLASS /CL XXc. No. 

COPY A. 



Copyright, 1907, by J. E. Davis 



PREFACE 

IT is perhaps essential that the term "Lower Vir- 
ginia Peninsula" as used in this book should be 
defined. I mean by it that part of Virginia lying 
between the James and the York Rivers and extending 
from Jamestown and Williamsburg to Fortress Mon- 
roe, which is the portion occupied by the first Eng- 
lish settlers in America and of special interest on 
that account. It is for this reason that but few facts 
in the history of Norfolk and Richmond are mentioned, 
and those chiefly the ones which have some connec- 
tion with the section chosen for more detailed descrip- 
tion. 

In placing before the public these chapters of early 
Virginia history I wish to express my indebtedness to 
the friends who have urged their publication, and es- 
pecially to those who have verified the facts contained 
in them. Prominent among the latter are Rev. C. B. 
Bryan, D.D., of Petersburg, formerly rector of St. 
John's Church, Hampton ; Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, of Wil- 
liam and Mary College ; Major I. N. Lewis, of the Ar- 
tillery School at Fort Monroe; Miss Lottie Garrett, 
of Williamsburg ; Mrs. Janie Hope Marr, of Lexing- 
ton ; and Miss Cary, of Richmond. 

The principal authorities consulted were Captain 
John Smith, Stith, Bruce, Howe, Fiske, John Esten 
Cook, and Rhodes. For the use of Strachey's His- 



tory of Travaile into Virginia, Hening's Statutes, and 
other rare books, as well as old magazines and news- 
papers in the excellent Virginia collection in the 
Library of William and Mary College, I am indebted 
to the courtesy of President Tyler. 

Most of the half-tones used in illustration are loaned 
by the Southern Workman, of Hampton, Virginia, in 
which magazine these sketches first appeared. 

J. E. Davis. 
Hampton, Va., May i, 1907. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Jamestown, Past and Present 7 

II Hampton Roads and the Jamestown Tercen- 
tennial 16 

III Old Point Comfort and Fortress Monroe 23 

IV Old Kecoughtan 30 

V The Virginia Peninsula in the Seventeenth 

Century 38 

VI Pirates of the Virginia Capes 45 

VII The Virginia Peninsula in the Eighteenth 

Century Si 

VIII The Vikings of Virginia 58 

IX Hampton in Three Wars 67 

X Hampton Schools Between 1850 and 1870. 73 

XI Virginia's Second Colonial Capital 80 

XII YORKTOWN, THE WATERLOO OF THE REVOLUTION OJ 

XIII Richmond and the James River Plantations 98 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

The Jamestown Tower 10 

The Graveyard at Jamestown 14 

Rip Raps, or Fort Wool . 20 

Fort Monroe, Showing the Old Water Battery 24 

The H ygeia Hotel 28 

At the Mouth of James River 32 

Shirley on the James 36 

The Oldest English Communion Service in America.. 38 

The Oldest Custom House in America (Yorktown) ... 42 

The Historic Nelson Mansion, Yorktown 44 

Carter's Grove, James River 52 

An Eighteenth Century Manor House 54 

St. John's Church, Hampton 56 

St. Paul's Church, Norfolk 60 

St. John's at the Close of the Civil War 68 

Hampton Hospital 70 

Chesapeake Female College 74 

The Butler School for Contrabands 76 

The Beginnings of Hampton Institute 78 

William and Mary College 82 

Bruton Parish Church 84 

The Courthouse at Williamsburg 88 

The Main Street of Yorktown 92 

The Moore House, Yorktown 96 

The Old Capitol, Richmond 98 

Historic St. John's, Richmond 100 

Lower Brandon 102 



I 

JAMESTOWN, PAST AND PRESENT 

WHAT pictures are conjured up by the name 
Jamestown, what recollections crowd upon 
us, what contrasts come unbidden to the 
mind! Three hundred years ago in this "Cradle of 
the Republic" lay an infant country, tiny and weak, 
without money, without food, with nothing, indeed, 
but an immense though hidden vitality and an un- 
bounded persistence which gave it power to grow in 
spite of adverse circumstances, in spite of every 
imaginable drawback, into a mighty nation, a world- 
power, stretching out its beneficent hands into the 
remotest corners of the earth. In imagination we sail 
down the Thames in December 1606, with that little 
handful of English settlers. First southward to the 
Azores and then westward we travel for many months, 
until finally Captain Newport pilots us through the 
Virginia capes, and the long, hard voyage is ended 
on April 26, 1607, when we disembark on a sandy 
spit of land and name the spot Cape Henry. Here 
we rest while the sealed orders of the London Com- 
pany are opened and we learn that we are to settle 
much further inland. We board the vessel again and 
sail across the Bay to the broad river which we name 
the James, and whose shores we explore for many a 
mile seeking dutifully for a suitable place for a settle- 



Jamestown, Past and Present 

ment. This we think we find at an attractive spot 
about thirty miles from the mouth of the river, where 
the water is deep so close to the shore that we can 
tie our ships to the trees, and here we disembark on 
a beautiful May day. A Virginia spring is full of 
promise, and all is so fair on this charming morning 
that we do not think to remind our friends that we 
are disobeying the order which says that we shall not 
settle in a low or moist place, and we busy ourselves 
in giving thanks to God in our improvised church 
under the sailcloth, for our safe arrival. 

Now there are trees to be felled and a fort to be 
built, for yonder, across the narrow neck of land, we 
often catch glimpses of savages, and though they 
come among us on friendly errands, we cannot trust 
them. And so, in a month's time, we build our fort 
and inside place our houses in straight rows. We 
are content with very plain houses ; indeed they are 
not much more than huts, but we roof them with 
marsh grass and pile earth on top to keep them dry. 
Finally we build us a chapel in the middle of the en- 
closure, and though it is but a homely thing like a 
barn and we roof it, as we do our own houses, with 
grass and earth, in it we can worship God and praise 
Him for preserving us thus far. But alas ! there are 
dissensions among our leaders ; the malaria of the 
swamps that we forgot to consider attacks many of 
our number ; we have not enough to eat ; and we must 
stop our building and clearing of land to lay one and 
another in his grave. Before the end of the summer 
we bury over sixty of our companions and those of 
us who are left wonder how soon we shall follow. 



Jamestown, Past and Present 

We live on as we can, having- much to do and little 
strength with which to do it, seeing more English come 
to join us with many mouths to feed and little enough 
to put in them. Our leaders fight among themselves 
and we have no one in command whom we can respect. 
We have fire after fire which destroys our property 
and we grow discouraged trying to replace it. In the 
cold of winter many die from exposure and we pull 
down even our palisades to use for firewood. Our 
supplies give out entirely and the people live on roots 
and herbs until things finally come to such a pass that 
even dead human bodies are eaten by the most desper- 
ate. Of the five hundred people who have come to the 
Colony but sixty are left, scarcely able to totter about 
the place. We decide to abandon the settlement and 
we start back to England, glad to flee from our misery. 
But before we reach the capes we meet Lord de la 
Warre, who has come to be our governor. He has 
plenty of provisions and he takes us back to our ruined 
settlement to make a fresh start. 

New fortifications were now built by the colonists 
and the houses were repaired. Cedar pews and a wal- 
nut altar were placed in the church and every Sunday 
it was decorated with flowers. A bell was hung in the 
tower, which not only called the people to church, but 
notified them when to begin and stop work. Instead 
of the system of communism which had prevailed the 
colonists were given land of their own and were 
obliged to cultivate it. Industry and thrift began to 
prevail and a repetition of the famine became well- 
nigh impossible. New settlers arrived and the Colony 
began to expand. By 1619 two thousand persons were 



Jamestown, Past and Present 

living in Virginia and they called for. self-government, 
being tired of the tyranny of royal governors. Gov- 
ernor Yeardley issued writs for the election of a 
General Assembly and the first legislative body in 
America met in the Jamestown church in July of that 
year. Just after this meeting, in curious juxtaposition, 
came the first cargo of Negro slaves ; and it was in this 
year also that there arrived from England a shipload 
of English maidens as wives for the colonists. Each 
young woman was free to exercise her choice, but no 
suitor who met with approval could take his bride un- 
less able to pay the cost of her voyage — -one hundred 
and twenty pounds of tobacco. Thus one year saw in 
the infant colony the establishment of the home, of a 
free representative government, and of the institution 
of slavery. 

With the beginning of the culture of tobacco and 
the expansion of the Colony, Jamestown came to be 
chiefly a place for the assembling of the legislature 
and for holding court. A courthouse was built and in 
this the House of Burgesses met. At such times the 
little village almost earned its title of town, but the 
permanent population after 1623 was only about one 
hundred persons, who lived in brick houses of fair size 
and style. The first brick church, whose ruined tower 
is to-day the chief relic of old Jamestown, was built in 
1639. It was a very plain and unpretentious chapel, 
rectangular in shape with a high-pitched roof. The 
aisles were paved with brick and the chancel with tiles. 
All attempts to increase the size of the town failed and 
after being destroyed three times by fire, the second 
time during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, it was never 

10 



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The Jamestown Tower 



Jamestown, Past and Present 

rebuilt. The climate remained unhealthy and the con- 
viction gradually grew that it would be wise to remove 
the capital to a more salubrious situation. This was 
found in Middle Plantation, now Williamsburg, which 
was made the capital of Virginia in 1698. By 1700 
the removal was complete, so that for over two hun- 
dred years there has been no town on Jamestown 
Island. 

Since the island was abandoned the river has done 
its best to obliterate all traces of the "Cradle of the 
Republic." Its work has at last, however, been inter- 
fered with, and patriotic women, under the name of 
the Association for the Preservation of Virginia An- 
tiquities, have taken steps to rescue from oblivion this 
"first American metropolis." It was not until 1900, 
however, after fifty or sixty acres of the island, in- 
cluding the sites of the first landing place and the first 
and second forts, together with a part of the earliest 
settlement, had been worn away by the unrestrained 
action of the water, that this society succeeded in in- 
ducing the Government to build a sea wall to prevent 
further encroachments by the river. This was begun 
in 1901 and finished in 1905. Outside of this break- 
water, two hundred and ninety feet from the shore, 
stands a lone cypress tree which in 1846 stood on the 
shore above high water mark. 

One who wishes to make a pilgrimage to Jamestown 
now may follow in the wake of Captain Newport's 
little vessels, across Hampton Roads, full of historic 
memories, not only of Colonial times but also of 
events connected with the great wars of our history; 
past Newport News at the mouth of the James ; and 

11 



Jamestown, Past and Present 

up the river which, could it speak, would have many a 
pathetic or romantic tale to tell. The names of the 
places on either bank bring back crowding memories 
of events of early Colonial days. On Lower Chippoke's 
Creek on the south side stands "Bacon's Castle," 
which, though not visible from the river, is one of the 
most interesting houses in Virginia. It was fortified 
by Bacon's friends during his rebellion. Further on 
are Basse's Choice, Pace's Pains, Archer's Hope, Mar- 
tin's Hundred, and many other places that perpetuate 
the names of early settlers and which were represented 
in the General Assembly. Jamestown had reason to 
be grateful to the owner of the plantation of Pace's 
Pains, for it was he who saved the capital in the mas- 
sacre of 1622, a converted Indian of his household 
having revealed the plot against the settlers. 

On landing at Jamestown Island we give ourselves 
up to the task of rebuilding and repeopling the little 
town which speaks so eloquently to every American 
citizen. Turning to the left, for there the tower 
beckons, we enter the church enclosure. Here are the 
foundation walls of three of the five Jamestown 
churches and we examine with reverent interest the in- 
ner line of bricks, which we are told supported the 
wooden walls of the third Colonial church, the one in 
which met the first General Assembly of Virginia. We 
picture the governor, the deputy governor, the council, 
and the twenty-two Burgesses walking in dignified 
procession up the narrow aisle of the little church, as 
with stern, serious faces they proceed to transact their 
important business — a different scene indeed from the 
squalor and misery that filled the little village only 

12 



Jamestown, Past and Present 

nine years before when Lord de la War re saved the 
Colony. Was it here, we wonder, that Pocahontas was 
baptized and here that she was married ? Alas ! we 
learn that the little chapel which witnessed these scenes 
in the life of the Indian maiden who gave a touch of 
romance to the rude pioneer town, was inside the pali- 
saded fort now buried under the restless waves of the 
James. It was just yonder, a stone's throw ; while still 
further out in the water is hidden in the sand of the 
river bottom the spot on which the Jamestown settlers 
stepped from their ships. No Plymouth Rock this to 
withstand forever the action of the waves ! 

But let us turn again to the foundation walls and 
the pavements of the churches. Here are the tiles in 
the chancel of the wooden church and above them the 
two sets belonging to the two brick churches built on 
the same foundations. The tower was too massive to 
be destroyed when the town was fired in Bacon's Re- 
bellion and still gives proof of its age in the "bonded'* 
English brick of which it is made and in the loopholes 
near its top which indicate that it was used for defense 
from the Indians before Opechancanough removed 
that danger by his death. The worshipers who were 
wont to gather in these two churches now rest in the 
ancient graveyard outside. Here lie Dr. James Blair, 
"Commissary of Virginia and sometime minister of 
this parish," and his wife, Sarah, a daughter of Colonel 
Benjamin Harrison. A young sycamore starting be- 
tween their tombstones carried with it, in the strength 
of its young life, a portion of Mrs. Blair's tombstone 
to the height of ten feet. This was accidentally re- 
leased in 1895 an d the tree has nearly closed the cavity, 

13 



Jamestown, Past and Present 

growing meanwhile to an enormous height and 
shading the whole graveyard. How typical of the gi- 
gantic growth of the infant republic born here! All 
about the old graveyard lie ancient stones, many of 
them in fragments, and some with their inscriptions 
quite indecipherable ; beyond the enclosure, on the bank 
of the river, have been found human skeletons lying 
in such positions as to indicate that the graveyard once 
extended to the James. We are told that the present 
lot is about one-third the size of the original, and when 
we think of the thousands who perished at Jamestown 
in the early days we are not surprised that human re- 
mains have been found in nearly every part of the 
island. 

Virginians have at length awakened to a realizing 
sense of the importance of preserving what remains 
of our first settlement. The ancient foundations of the 
town are being uncovered and every possible effort is 
being made to keep in good condition what is left of 
the sacred objects in the church enclosure. So far as 
possible the tombstones have been mended and the in- 
scriptions made more legible, further vandalism being 
prevented by a caretaker who lives on the island. 

Leaving the graveyard we walk thoughtfully past 
the earthworks of 1861, now grassgrown and forming 
part of a shady park peopled with mocking-birds and 
cardinals. Beyond, we come to the "third ridge" 
where recent excavations have laid bare the founda- 
tions of a row of houses, one of them being the State 
House in front of which Bacon drew up his soldiers 
and demanded his commission of Sir William Berke- 
ley. The next one belonged to Colonel Philip Ludwell 

14 




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Jamestown, Past and Present 

under whose direction the town was rebuilt after 
Bacon's Rebellion. As the excavations proceed it will 
be possible to picture the town as it looked during its 
last days. 

No less than four monuments will be erected on 
Jamestown Island during the summer of 1907. Per- 
haps the most imposing will be the marble shaft erect- 
ed by the Government to mark the scene of the nation's 
birth. Near it will be another shaft in memory of the 
first House of Burgesses, built by the Norfolk branch 
of the A. P. V. A. A bronze monument to Captain 
John Smith is to be erected on a terrace commanding 
a view of the river and near the monument to Poca- 
hontas, the gift of the Pocahontas Memorial Associa- 
tion. Over the foundations of the brick churches the 
Colonial Dames of America have built a church as 
nearly as possible like the brick one erected in 1639. 
It contains many tablets, among them one to Rev. 
Robert Hunt, the first English minister in America. 
This church was presented to the A. P. V. A. on 
May 11, 1907. On May 13 the three hundredth 
anniversary of the landing at Jamestown was cele- 
brated with appropriate ceremonies, Ambassador 
Bryce of England making the principal address. 



15 



II 

HAMPTON ROADS AND THE JAMESTOWN 
TERCENTENNIAL 

IT is more than three hundred years since the Susan 
Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery tied up 
to the trees overhanging the river at Jamestown. 
As we have seen, the settlement then made had but a 
short and precarious existence, lasting less than a cen- 
tury. The three hundredth anniversary of this Eng- 
lish settlement, fraught with such portentous interest 
for these United States, is now (1907) being cele- 
brated but not on the original site, for that is, as it 
ever was, a low marshy spot, unfit for habitation and 
offering no accommodations for visitors. Instead, the 
Jamestown Tercentennial is being held at Sewell's 
Point thirty miles down the river on the shore of 
Hampton Roads and nearer the place where the colo- 
nists first, landed. 

Captain John Smith tells us in his True Narration 
that venturing to land and explore the dense woods 
near the shore, he and his men were driven back by 
savages who came stealthily towards them creeping 
on all fours and carrying their bows in their mouths. 
Before they could regain the ship several of the com- 
pany received severe arrow wounds, but they suc- 
ceeded in so frightening the Indians with their powder 
and shot that they were not attacked again for some 

16 



Hampton Roads 

time and were able later to penetrate several miles 
into the woods. On one occasion the Englishmen 
found some oysters roasting over a fire; they dis- 
covered also a "cannow" made out of a whole tree and 
measuring forty-five feet in length. Near the boat in 
the soft mud were quantities of mussels and oysters, 
and in a cleared place beyond they found strawberries 
"foure times bigger and better" than those they had 
known in England. Apparently satisfied that they had 
reached a land of plenty they set up a cross at the 
entrance to the bay, named the place Cape Henry, and 
continued for several days to explore the inlets and 
rivers on the south shore in a light shallop that they 
had built. On Cape Henry still stands the old light- 
house erected in 1691 on the very spot where the rude 
cross was set up in 1607 by the devout Englishmen in 
gratitude for the safe ending of their long journey. 
A tablet commemorating the landing has been placed 
on the lighthouse by the A. P. V. A. 

The buildings of the Exposition at Sewell's Point 
are about twenty-five in number and are Colonial in 
architecture, with the Auditorium in the center capped 
by a low dome and flanked by the Historic and 
Historic Arts Buildings. The chief interest of the 
celebration lies in its historical features, although the 
naval display in Hampton Roads is doubtless the most 
striking. The grounds have much natural beauty and 
are enclosed by a unique fence covered with crimson 
rambler and honeysuckle. On the Exposition grounds 
is what is called Powhatan's Oak, known to be over 
three hundred years old, under which tradition says 
that the powerful Indian chief, who once ruled the 

17 



Hampton Roads 

lower Virginia peninsula, sometimes held his councils 
of war. Also within the Fair grounds are the remains 
of the Confederate batteries which supported the 
Merrimac in its famous fight with the Monitor. With 
what tremendous interest would the men who manned 
the first American ironclads view the imposing array 
of the world's iron battleships now gathered on the 
very spot where, on March 9, 1862, the "Confederate 
ram" and the "Yankee cheese box" met in mortal com- 
bat and by that meeting revolutionized naval warfare ! 
Every schoolboy can describe the scene — can tell 
what happened the day before "On board of the Cum- 
berland, sloop-of-war ;" how the balls from the wooden 
ships and the shore batteries rebounded from the 
Merrimac's iron sides as if they were made of India 
rubber ; how there was consternation in the Union 
fleet and alarm at the White House ; how the Monitor 
reached Hampton Roads late on that terrible day ; and 
how for four hours on the Sunday morning following, 
the hand-to-hand fight continued. "David," the people 
said, "had come out against Goliath." Captain John 
Wise who, standing on Sewell's Point, was an eye-wit- 
ness of the fight says in the The End of an Era that 
the Monitor "presented the appearance of a saucy 
kingbird pecking at a very large and very black crow." 
Neither boat could ram the other and shells rebounded 
from the armor of both. Finally a shell from the Mer- 
rimac, passing between the iron logs of the pilot-house 
of the Monitor, blinded gallant Lieutenant Worden. 
The Monitor continued in action in spite of this dis- 
aster, and as she was able on account of her light 
draught to keep in shallow water where the Merrimac 

18 



Hampton Roads 

could not follow, the latter soon retired to Norfolk. 
Both sides claimed the victory. 

Standing at Slewell's Point one can look out over 
Hampton Roads, one of the most beautiful sheets of 
water in the world, and see that it is formed by three 
rivers — the James coming in from the west, the Nan- 
semond from the south, and the Elizabeth from the 
east. To the north is Old Point Comfort protected by 
the guns of Fort Monroe, and midway between this 
and the Exposition grounds is the Rip Raps, or Fort 
Wool, an artificial island whose history is given in the 
following chapter. To the northwest may be seen the 
town of Hampton, the oldest continuous English set- 
tlement in America, and the water-fronts with some 
of the buildings of Hampton Institute and the National 
Soldiers' Home, while in the southwest at the mouth 
of the James rise the huge grain elevators of Newport 
News. This town, which now contains one of the 
largest dry docks in the world and is an important 
commercial center, was settled in 162 1 by "Master 
Gookin out of Ireland who arrived with fifty men of 
his own and thirty passengers exceedingly well fur- 
nished with all sorts of provisions and cattle." He 
named it New Port Newce in honor of his friend, 
Sir William Newce of Ireland. A quaint old chroni- 
cler tells us that "at Nuportsnews the cotton trees in a 
yeere grow so thicke as one's arme and so high as a 
man; here anything that is planted doth prosper so 
well as in no place better." 

Looking south from Sewell's Point one sees Craney 
Island at the mouth of the Elizabeth River. This was 
fortified during the War of 1812 to guard the city of 

19 



Hampton Roads 

Norfolk, and the garrison was able to repulse an attack 
of the British under Admiral Cockburn in June 1813. 
Portions of an unfinished canal through which the 
British hoped to reach Norfolk without passing the 
harbor defenses may still be seen near Cape Henry. 
Craney Island, together with Sewell's and Lambeth's 
Points, was fortified by the Confederates during the 
Civil War and the first action of that war on Virginia's 
soil was an attack on Sewell's Point with no decisive 
result by two vessels from Old Point. 

South of Craney Island is Portsmouth, where there 
has been a navy yard since Colonial days, the first 
one being built by the English, but utilized by the 
Virginians, after the departure of Lord Dunmure dur- 
ing the Revolution, for the building of the Virginia 
Navy. In 1801 it was purchased and transferred to 
the United States, being known as the Gosport Navy 
Yard. In April 1861 it was evacuated and burned and 
the ships sunk by the Union army. The Merrimac, 
which afterwards took so conspicuous a part in the 
war, was one of the ships sunk. She was raised, plated 
with iron (it is said according to models made by 
Commodore James Barron of Revolutionary fame), 
and renamed the Virginia, as she was always after- 
wards known by the Confederates. When they, in 
turn, on the advance of the Union army in May 1862, 
after the battle of the Monitor and Merrimac, evac- 
uated the navy yard and the forts on Hampton Roads 
the Merrimac, or Virginia, was burned near Craney 
Island. After forty-five years her anchor has recently 
been recovered and may be seen at the Exposition. 
The present navy yard located partly in Portsmouth 

20 



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Hampton Roads 

and partly in Norfolk is the largest in the United 
States, as is true also of the Naval Hospital near 
Portsmouth on whose site once stood Fort Nelson of 
Revolutionary times, later replaced by Fort Norfolk 
on the opposite shore. 

The first white men who visited the site of Norfolk 
belonged to the expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh to 
Roanoke Island; while on a voyage of exploration as 
far as Chesapeake Bay some of its members found 
Indians on the Elizabeth River. But it was not until 
nearly one hundred years later, in 1682, that the city 
was founded, the original site of fifty acres being pur- 
chased for ten thousand pounds of tobacco. Almost 
another century passed before Portsmouth was set- 
tled in 1752. St. Paul's Church, which was built in 
Norfolk a few years before the settlement of Ports- 
mouth, is one of the oldest buildings in the present 
city. Signs of very early Colonial occupation are to 
be found near Norfolk in Princess Anne County, 
where at Oceana still stands the little "Chapel by the 
Sea/' built in 1680, and near Kempsville the ruins of 
"Old Hundred" chapel built in 1690. The silver ser- 
vice given to this church by Queen Anne is now in the 
Kempsville church, only ten years its junior. The 
name of a neighboring plantation, "Witchduck," re- 
calls the fact that there in the days of the Salem per- 
secution a young girl was drowned as a witch. 

By 1770 Norfolk had grown to be the most popu- 
lous and flourishing town in Virginia, Richmond be- 
ing at that time a place of no significance. It was at 
the height of its Colonial prosperity, on New Year's 
Day 1776, that Norfolk was bombarded by Lord Dun- 

21 



Hampton Roads 

more, who had fled from Williamsburg after his das- 
tardly robbing of the Powder Horn. Nearly fourteen 
hundred houses were destroyed at a loss of a million 
and a half dollars. One of the shells fired during the 
bombardment is still imbedded in a wall of St. Paul's 
Church. 

After the Revolution Norfolk was rebuilt and in- 
creased rapidly in population and size. On the corner 
of Church and Main streets may still be seen in the 
pavement two marble footprints marking the spot 
where Lafayette stood when he addressed the people 
during his memorable visit in 1824. Within the last 
twenty years an old landmark has been destroyed — 
the ''wishing oak" under which Powhatan's warriors 
smoked the peace pipe with neighboring tribes. It 
stood on the estate of Governor Tazewell, the site of 
the Hotel Lorraine. Two dates in the history of Nor- 
folk stand out in the memory of her citizens — 1855 
when twenty-two hundred deaths occurred from yellow 
fever ; and 1857 the year of the great freeze when, in 
January, passengers from New York went from Old 
Point to Norfolk on the ice. Richmond is now the 
largest and richest city in Virginia, but Norfolk is the 
second city in the state, being one of the most im- 
portant shipping ports on the Atlantic seaboard. 



22 



Ill 

OLD POINT COMFORT AND FORTRESS 
MONROE 

IT was before the settlement of Jamestown that John 
Smith's band of adventurous colonists named the 
sandy strip of land at the eastern end of the Vir- 
ginia peninsula "Point Comfort," on account of the 
good channel and safe anchorage it afforded. When 
later a similar strip at the mouth of Mobjack Bay re- 
ceived the name of New Point Comfort, the prefix 
"Old" naturally clung to the first. From the earliest 
times the strategic value of this point of land has been 
recognized and a fort was built upon it only two years 
after the landing at Jamestown. In 1609 Captain John 
Ratcliffe was sent down the river to fortify the point. 
"Algernoune Fort/' when Don Diego Molina, a Span- 
ish spy, saw it in 161 1, consisted of stockades and 
posts without stone or brick and contained seven pieces 
of artillery, all of iron. It was manned by forty men. 
The name afterwards fell into disuse and the fort was 
referred to as Point Comfort Fort. It was rebuilt in 
1630 and all newcomers to the Colony were ordered to 
pay sixty-four pounds of tobacco towards its mainte- 
nance. The garrison was paid in tobacco and corn, 
the captain receiving two thousand pounds of tobacco 
and ten barrels of corn. It was added to a third 
time in 1665 but was so inadequate as a defense that 

23 



Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe 

the Dutch twice in the seventeenth century invaded the 
harbor and burned the English shipping there. Finally 
in 1727 a new and larger fort was built of brick and 
named Fort George in honor of the reigning king. 
During the Revolution, just before the surrender at 
Yorktown, some additional fortifications were thrown 
up at Old Point Comfort by Count de Grasse, admiral 
of the French fleet. 

After the War of 1812 it became evident that 
stronger fortifications were needed at Old Point Com- 
fort and the matter began to be agitated by the Gov- 
ernment. Five years after the war (1819) two acres 
on the Point were ceded to the Government. On this 
land the lighthouse now stands. The state made an 
additional cession to the Government in 1821 of two 
hundred and fifty acres, or all the land east and south 
of Mill Creek. A fort to enclose eighty acres was at 
once begun. It was medieval in character, with thick, 
high, granite walls surrounded by a broad and deep 
moat twenty-six acres in area and supplied with several 
drawbridges. Two hundred and fifty cannon were 
placed in deep embrasures, both in the main fort and 
in the water battery, and broad, grassy ramparts sur- 
mounted the casemates. The stone work was done by 
white masons but all other labor was performed by 
slaves hired at fifty cents a day from their masters. 
The fort, or more properly the fortress, since it is a 
fort within a fort, was named for President Monroe. 
The garrison numbered at first between three and five 
hundred men. 

At the same time that Fort Monroe was begun, it 
was determined to add to the harbor defenses by mak- 

24 




W 

w 

h 

< 
OQ 

« 
W 

< 

Q 

o 

w 
a 
e 

o 
z 

o 
S 
w 

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o 
w 
z 

o 



o 



Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe 

ing an artificial island on a shoal midway between Old 
Point Comfort and Sewell's Point opposite. The water 
here was fifteen feet deep and the making of the island 
was an immense task, necessitating the sinking of 
hundreds of thousands of tons of stone and the ex- 
penditure of millions of dollars. It was done, how- 
ever, and then a small army of men was set to work 
to construct a fort of masonry similar to the one on the 
mainland, without the moat, but provided with large 
dark storerooms or dungeons built of solid masonry 
included within the walls. A rough railway was built 
around the island and huge derricks set up. The 
masonry work on Fort Wool, as the new fort was 
named, was still incomplete at the beginning of the 
Civil War, and although the construction proceeded 
for a time afterward, it soon became evident that with 
the rapid improvement in guns, powder, and projec- 
tiles, then in progress, parapets of masonry would no 
longer afford proper protection against naval attack. 
The massive granite walls of Fort Wool have lately 
been torn down, the old casemate batteries have been 
dismantled, and new batteries of rapid-firing guns have 
taken their place. 

The War Department has recently proposed the 
construction of a second artificial island for the more 
complete defense of the harbor. This island is to be 
built upon shoals about midway between Cape Charles 
and Cape Henry and when completed will be strongly 
fortified. A sheltered harbor for vessels of war is to 
be provided. The total estimated cost of the new 
island, including fortifications and harbor, as submit- 

25 



Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe 

ted to Congress at its last session by the Secretary of 
War, is something over three millions of dollars. 

Fort Monroe is the largest regular work of the 
kind in the United States and at the time of its com- 
pletion in 1830 was considered proof against any possi- 
ble attack by sea. Its masonry walls, moat, casemates, 
and interior constructions, still remain intact, but the 
old smooth-bore guns with their old-fashioned mounts 
have been removed, and the fort proper forms no part 
of the present system of harbor defenses. It is at pres- 
ent used to provide barracks and quarters for the 
regular artillery garrison of about one thousand men 
with their officers. The Artillery School for com- 
missioned officers of the coast artillery is located at 
Fort Monroe, and all the junior officers, including 
graduates from the Military Academy at West Point, 
are required to take a special post-graduate course of 
study at this school in order to fit them for a proper 
performance of their professional duties. The walls 
of the old fort enclose a fine level parade ground, the 
scene of the daily guard mount and dress parade. It 
is ornamented by clumps of picturesque live-oaks, 
which do not grow further north than Old Point. The 
fort has received many distinguished guests and pris- 
oners, and owns some interesting war trophies, such as 
the gun from the "Almirante Oquendo" captured dur- 
ing the battle of Santiago. It was at Fort Monroe 
that President Jefferson Davis was confined for a time 
after the dissolution of the Confederacy. 

The artillery defenses of Hampton Roads and the 
entrance to Chesapeake Bay constitute a most impor- 
tant part of our system of National defense. In the 

26 



Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe 

event of war they must protect the Norfolk Navy Yard 
with its valuable naval base, also the shipping and vast 
commercial interests of the Chesapeake and, most im- 
portant of all, they must make secure the water ap- 
proaches to Washington and Baltimore. The heavy 
gun and mortar batteries which extend along the 
shore front just outside and to the north of Fort Mon- 
roe, are of the very latest and most formidable type. 
The big guns, mounted upon disappearing carriages, 
are placed behind thick parapets of solid concrete and 
sand which completely guard them from exposure to 
the enemy except at the instant of firing. Powerful 
searchlights are so placed along both sides of the main 
ship channel as to cross their beams and illumine the 
entire water areas within range of the guns for ser- 
vice at night. The fire from coast defense guns must 
be directed as effectively by night as by day, and in 
no other harbor are the preparations for defense 
against night attack so complete in every detail of 
equipment and drill. 

Of considerable historic interest at Old Point Com- 
fort was the old Hygeia Hotel, recently razed (1902) 
to make possible a military park. It had its beginning 
in a small house built in 181 2 near the entrance to the 
Fort and consisting of one large room, which served 
for both parlor and dining-room, and four chambers 
on either side of it. The kitchen was in an outbuilding. 
This hostelry was later considerably enlarged but was 
finally removed in 1863 because it interfered with the 
training of guns in the fort. It was carted away en- 
tire across Mill Creek on a tram car drawn by fifty 
Government teams. The Hygeia was at once rebuilt 

27 



Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe 

on its later site close to the beach- but was only a 
small rambling building. In 1874 Mr. Harrison Phoe- 
bus purchased it, fitted it with all the modern im- 
provements, and added to it until it was large enough 
to accommodate twelve hundred guests. Every pres- 
ident of the United States except Mr. Cleveland has 
been entertained there, and among its guests have 
been numbered prominent foreign diplomats, admirals, 
army officers, statesmen, and financiers, among whom 
may be mentioned Jay Gould, King Kalakaua, and Li 
Hung Chang. The Chamberlain, with its sun gal- 
leries and winter gardens and its miles of promenades, 
has now superseded the Hygeia. 

Between Old Point Comfort and Hampton is the 
National Soldiers' Home, which stands north of Mill 
Creek on the site of what was used during the war as 
the officers' division of the Hampton Hospital. Before 
the war its main building was used for the "Chesa- 
peake Female College," having been built in 1854. 
The seminary did not have a long life and the build- 
ing was afterwards used by a boy's school. In 1870 it 
was purchased for the Government, together with 
forty acres of land, by General B. F. Butler for $50,000 
as a Home for disabled soldiers, to supplement the 
Homes already established in the North. Here live 
nearly four thousand veterans of the Mexican, Civil, 
and Spanish-American wars, who are given a home 
and medical attendance and are provided with two 
suits of clothes each year. The number of buildings 
has increased to nearly seventy and the Government 
has purchased forty-three acres of land in addition to 
the original forty. Everything possible is done for the 

28 



K 

o 






Old Point Comfort and Fort Monroe 

comfort and pleasure of the soldiers, the "post fund" 
derived from sales in the store, restaurant, and beer 
hall, providing from four to six monthly entertain- 
ments in the theatre and paying the expenses of a band, 
chapel, and library. Three large buildings have been 
erected for hospital purposes and are supplied with 
every modern appliance for the sick. Nearly 17,000 
veterans have been cared for since the Home was es- 
tablished and about 9,000 of these now rest in the 
National Cemetery near by. 



2Q 



IV 
OLD KECOUGHTAN 

AT the end of the sixteenth century there stood 
somewhere near the shore of Hampton River 
an Indian village called Kecoughtan, said by 
Strachey in his History of Travaile into Virginia to 
have consisted of three hundred wigwams, sheltering a 
population of one thousand members of the Kecough- 
tan tribe. 

These wigwams, which were in the form of huge 
ovens, were made by inserting saplings in the earth, 
their tops being afterward drawn to one point, in 
which position they were permanently kept by binding 
them together with withes. The framework was then 
covered with mats and pieces of bark. An opening 
was made in either side, and at the top was a place for 
the smoke to pass out from the fire of pine logs built 
on the earth in the centre of the wigwam. At night 
the beds were drawn in a circle about the fire, and 
"consisted of hurdles and reeds laid upon small poles, 
supported by posts rising only a foot from the ground." 
Upon these, mats and skins were placed, and the In- 
dian in lying down would draw over him another mat 
or skin, using a third for a pillow. In the daytime when 
not hunting or fishing, the socially disposed Kecough- 
tan joined his neighbors on one of the scaffolds of 
reeds or dry willows which were built at intervals in 

30 



Old Kecoughtan 

the village. Here the men smoked and conversed 
while the women spread maize and fish to dry on the 
lofts above. 

The dress of these Indians was extremely simple, 
consisting mainly of skins ornamented with shells, 
bones, and teeth. They wore necklaces, ear-rings, and 
bracelets of birds' claws, bits of copper, and strings of 
pearls, feathers in their hair, and on their bodies paints 
of "lovely colors, beautiful and pleasing to the eye." 
Some were also tattooed with black and red "with little 
patches of lively colors in a braver fashion than those 
in the West Indies." 

At meal time the Kecoughtan spread a mat on the 
ground and on this placed a dish of food. Before eat- 
ing he took a small piece of food and threw it into the 
fire as an offering to the evil spirit, at the same time 
mumbling a sort of grace. The bill of fare varied 
with the season ; in March and April the Indians de- 
pended on fish and game ; in May they lived on straw- 
berries, mulberries, oysters, and fish. During the sum- 
mer they continued the fish and berry diet and added 
roasting ears, while in the fall and winter they counted 
on nuts, wild fowl, maize, and oysters. The principal 
root which they converted into food was the tuckahoe. 
This resembled the flag in its growth and was very 
abundant. In preparing it the Indians laid the roots in 
a pile and covered them with leaves, ferns, and earth. 
They then built a fire on either side which they allowed 
to burn for twenty-four hours. Old chroniclers tell 
us that the Indians grew fat or lean according to the 
season, but that actual famine was unknown. 

The Kecoughtans are said to have been admirable 

31 



Old Kecoughtan 

husbandmen ("better husbands then in any parte else 
that we have observed") and to have had as many as 
three thousand acres of cleared land, a large part of 
which was planted in maize. After clearing the land 
by the primitive method of girdling the trees, the 
ground was prepared for planting by means of a rude 
hoe made of a stick to which was attached the horn or 
shoulder-blade of a deer. Maize, beans, peas, pump- 
kins, gourds, and cymlins were planted in the same 
field. "A field of maize (near Kecoughtan) long be- 
fore the vessels of the first English explorers appeared 
upon its waters, was almost the exact counterpart of 
the same field planted with the same grain three hun- 
dred years afterwards by the modern Virginia farmer. 

* * * There would be the same number of stalks 
to the hill, with the vines of beans clambering upon 
the stalks, peas running over the ground between the 
rows, and pumpkins, bulky and yellow, peeping through 
the mass of green leaves." The grain was stored in 
long baskets in houses made especially for them. 

The Indian garden was made near the wigwam and 
was from one to two hundred feet square. In it were 
grown muskmelons, gourds, and tobacco. In the au- 
tumn the Kecoughtans gathered great quantities of 
persimmons and after drying them stored them away 
like preserved dates or figs. The kernels of the chest- 
nut and chinquapin were considered great delicacies 
when dried, beaten into flour, and converted into bread. 
The only salt in use in the village of Kecoughtan was 
the ash of stick-weed and hickory, and the Indians 
had no knowledge of any spirits except the juice of 
the crushed fiber of the maize stalk. Water gourds 

32 




K 
W 
> 



w 

33 
h 



Old Keco ugh tan 

were the flagons of the aboriginal Hamptonians. Partly 
on account of this abstinence and partly because of 
the active, out-of-door life led by all the tribe, the Ke- 
coughtans in common with the other Virginia tribes 
were fine specimens of physical strength and grace. 
Their general health was good and they frequently 
lived to a great age. 

The prosperity of the Kecoughtans excited the cupid- 
ity of Powhatan who, on the death of their old wero- 
wance when things were in confusion, attacked and 
conquered them. He made his son Pochins werowance 
and it was he and his warriors who, when Captain 
John Smith was exploring the shore near Point Com- 
fort in his shallop, made signs to the white men to come 
ashore to their town whose bark-covered wigwams 
could be seen in the distance, and led the way by swim- 
ming across the river that lay between, the English- 
men following in their shallop. On reaching this vil- 
lage of the Kecoughtans (where the Soldiers' Home 
now stands) the strangers were hospitably entertained. 
Although at first received with "doleful noises," the 
occasion for which they did not understand, they were 
soon seated on mats and feasted till they could eat no 
more. When the meal was ended, they were given 
tobacco to smoke in huge clay pipes. We can imagine 
the curiosity with which the men from across the sea 
must have watched the strange, fantastic dance that 
formed part of their entertainment, and the interest 
with which they must have talked over their adventure 
with their shipmates on their return. Captain Smith 
describes the Indian town as located on a plain nearly 
surrounded by water. "Kecoughtan," he says, "so 

33 



Old Kecoughtan 

conveniently turneth itself into Bayes and Creeks that 
it is a very pleasant place to inhabit, and is also a 
convenient harbor for fishing and other small boats." 
He found but eighteen wigwams instead of the three 
hundred mentioned by Strachey. 

Not long after this adventure Captain Smith was 
sent by the starving colonists at Jamestown to Ke- 
coughtan to trade for corn. The Indians, knowing the 
extremity of the English and looking on them with less 
friendly eyes since they had gained a footing in the 
land, held the corn at a high price, scorning the beads 
and other trinkets which were the usual medium of 
exchange. Smith, finally seeing that friendly overtures 
would not avail, decided to resort to force, and run- 
ning his boat ashore he and his men shot off their mus- 
kets, whereat the Indians fled to the woods. As soon 
as the English landed, however, some sixty or seventy 
painted savages rushed back singing and dancing and 
bearing before them their "Okee" or idol which was 
made of painted skins stuffed with moss and loaded 
down with chains and ornaments of every description. 
They were armed with clubs, targets, and bows and 
arrows, but were unable to withstand the shot of the 
English and fled before them, leaving their god on the 
beach. This was immediately seized and held for ran- 
som, the frightened Indians paying for the hideous ob- 
ject with boat-loads of venison, wild fowl, bread, oys- 
ters, and corn. 

During the year that followed, the Indians seem to 
have grown accustomed to the presence of the English, 
and remembering no doubt with respect and admira- 
tion the prowess shown by the doughty captain on his 

34 



Old Kecoughtan 

last visit, they entertained him right royally during 
the whole of Christmas week in 1608 when he was 
weatherbound at Kecoughtan. "The extreame wind, 
raine, frost, and snowe," says Captain Smith, "caused 
us to keep Christmas amongst the Savages ; where wee 
were never more merrie, nor fedde on more plentie of 
good oysters, fish, flesh, wild foule, and good bread; 
nor never had better fires in England then in the drie, 
warme, smokie houses of Kecoughtan." 

This pleasant picture of the red man's hospitality is 
the last that has come down to us. When next we 
hear of Pochins and his warriors, they have set upon 
and killed an Englishman, and for this offense Sir 
Thomas Gates has attacked and captured their town. 
This was in July 1610. To prevent the return of the 
Indians he built two forts, Charles and Henry, on the 
bank of the river, which he named Southampton in 
honor of the Earl of Southampton. This name was 
later contracted to Hampton. Corroborative testimony 
is borne to the situation of the forts at Kecoughtan by 
one Don Diego Molina, a Spanish spy taken prisoner at 
Point Comfort in 161 3. In a letter to his government 
he speaks of two small forts, one of them garrisoned 
with fifteen soldiers, half a league distant from his 
prison at the Point. 

When Sir Thomas Dale arrived from England in 
161 1 he found the settlers on Southampton River so 
improvident as to have neglected their spring planting 
and he set all hands to work sowing corn. Possibly 
they had grown indolent through the prodigality of 
Nature, for it is said that the colonists at Kecoughtan 
could live well with half the allowance the rest had 

35 



Old Kecoughtan 

from the store because of the extraordinary quantity 
of fish and game there. Probably too the system Of 
working in common which had been maintained up to 
this time had tended to paralyze industry. The altera- 
tion made by Sir Thomas Dale, who allotted to each 
man three acres of cleared ground requiring him to 
contribute two and a half barrels of corn to the public 
store, provided a new incentive to exertion and proved 
most beneficial. And so the little Colony became in 
time self-supporting and we hear nothing more of im- 
providence nor anything of its history until July 1619, 
when the House of Burgesses met for the first time at 
Jamestown. Among the famous requests sent by this 
body to King James was one which included a petition 
that the settlement on Southampton River should be 
relieved of the "heathen name" of Kecoughtan. A 
reply was received early in the following year granting 
the request and naming the whole of the lower penin- 
sula, extending from Newport News and the Poquoson 
to Chesapeake Bay, for the king's daughter Elizabeth. 
Somewhat contracted the county remains to this day 
Elizabeth City, the town of Hampton taking its name 
from the river. 

About twenty families formed the village at this 
time, the eleven farmers among them raising fine 
crops of tobacco and corn, beside cultivating peaches, 
apricots, and other fruits in large orchards. After 
the great massacre of 1622 the little village increased 
somewhat in size owing to additions from outlying 
plantations where the people feared to remain on ac- 
count of the Indians. From all we can learn the town 
was never in such desperate straits as the neighboring 

36 







o 
w 

3 

C/2 



Qs 



H. 



Is 



Old Kecoughtan 

settlement of Jamestown, and its subsequent growth 
would seem to justify the opinion of those historians 
who believe that the English would have been wiser 
had they made Kecoughtan their first Virginia settle- 
ment. 



37 



V 

THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA IN THE SEVEN- 
TEENTH CENTURY 

THE end of the first decade of the seventeenth 
century found on the extreme eastern end. of 
the Virginia peninsula, on the north shore of 
Hampton Roads, three small English settlements de- 
fended from the Indians by four forts. Settlers on 
arriving from England sometimes touched at Point 
Comfort where there was a tiny fortification named 
Fort Algernon — a collection of thatched cabins, one 
"slight house," and a store, the whole defended by 
seven pieces of artillery and a garrison of forty men. 
Two-thirds of a league farther on, at Kecoughtan, de- 
fended by the two small forts, Charles and Henry, the 
colonists found more comfortable quarters in which to 
rest after the long voyage ; and then they proceeded to 
Jamestown or remained to plant maize and tobacco on 
the fertile farms bordering the Southampton (Hamp- 
ton) River, from which Pochins, son of Powhatan, had 
lately been driven. 

Life was easier at Kecoughtan than at Jamestown 
but the conditions were of the crudest. The scattered 
dwelling houses were chiefly cabins built of logs or 
slabs and carefully fortified by palisades. No man ven- 
tured into his fields, particularly after the massacre 
of 1622, without wearing a shirt of mail and carrying 

38 




Photograph hy Cheney 

Colonial Church Silver (1619) 

Prayer Book Used at First Communion Service in America {June 21, 1607) 



In the Seventeenth Century 

firearms. Tobacco and sassafras were the chief ex- 
ports but quantities of maize were raised and each 
colonist was compelled by law to plant annually for 
seven years six mulberry trees for the breeding of silk- 
worms. The climate was believed to offer unusual 
advantages for silk culture and men skilled in that 
industry came from Europe and settled in Elizabeth 
City. French "vignerons" or vinedressers were im- 
ported and established themselves at Buckroe, where 
we find that land patents were granted as early as 
1623, many French names occurring in the court 
records of that time. Neither of these industries, how- 
ever, seems to have flourished for any length of time 
and the colonists settled down to ordinary agricultural 
pursuits, cultivating their plantations along the bay 
shore and on both sides of the river with the help of 
indentured white servants and a few black slaves. 

Churches were built early in the history of every 
settlement but were at first only rough frame buildings 
that were later replaced by rectangular brick edifices, 
the walls of at least one of which still stand at Smith- 
field, Isle of Wight County. In the absence of towns 
the church became in a sense the centre of the social 
life of the county, although service was not held reg- 
ularly and spiritual matters came to be sadly neglected 
in all the Virginia parishes. The Negroes were at first 
so few in number that no separate churches were built 
for them and they were permitted to attend the parish 
church, while their children were brought with others 
for baptism. The rules for the observance of the 
Sabbath were curiously strict. As early as Argall's 
time an edict was issued declaring that absence from 

39 



In the Seventeenth Century 

church on Sundays or holidays should be punished by 
"confinement for the night and one week's slavery to 
the Colony, for the second offence the slavery should 
last a month, and for the third, for a year and a day." 
About the middle of the century a man of Poquoson 
Parish who was caught fishing on Sunday was com- 
pelled as a punishment to build a bridge for a public 
road. 

The year 1634 is memorable for the establishment of 
the first successful free school in America. This was 
known as the Syms school and was situated on the 
Poquoson River in Elizabeth City County. Before the 
end of the century the Eaton free school was started 
at the head of Back River. After the Revolution a 
house was rented in Hampton and the two schools 
united under the name of the Hampton Academy 
which eventually became part of the public school 
system. 

Tutors were common in the better families of Vir- 
ginia in the seventeenth century and the "parson's 
school" was a well-established institution. Masters were 
obliged to teach their bond apprentices to read and 
write and the law was enforced by the vestry under 
the general supervision of the county court. The fol- 
lowing extract from the public records will show what 
was required: 

July 18, 1698. Elizabeth City County. 

"Ann Chandler, orphan of Daniel Chandler, bound 
apprentice to Phyllemon Miller till 18 or day of mar- 
riage, to be taught to read a chapter in the Bible, ye 
Lord's Prayer and ten commandments, and semptress 
work." 

40 



In the Seventeenth Century 

Elizabeth City was one of the eight boroughs into 
which the Colony was at first divided. In 1624 thirty 
persons were reported living at Buckroe and 319 in 
Elizabeth City including two Negroes ; while eight 
years later we find that there were settlers at Fox 
Hill also. As the century advanced the typical man- 
sion house of the landed proprietor came to be a frame 
building of moderate size with a chimney at each end 
and containing from six to twelve rooms. The parti- 
tions were covered with a thick layer of clay and then 
whitewashed with lime made from oyster shells. When 
bricks came into common use — having been made in 
the Colony and not brought from England — they were 
used in many cases instead of wood, and a few of these 
seventeenth century houses still stand on the peninsula. 
"Ringfield," the home of Joseph Ring of York County 
who died in 1703, is one of these. It was customary 
to fence in the garden with palings to keep out hogs 
and cattle, and the usual outbuildings including a 
dove-cot, stable, barn, henhouse, kitchen, milkhouse, 
and quarters for the servants, stood near the "Great 
House," the whole being surrounded by a high pali- 
sade. For although by a treaty in 1646 with Neco- 
towance, the successor of Opechancanough, the In- 
dians had ceded to the English all the territory between 
the York and the James from the Falls to Kecoughtan, 
and it was death for an Indian to be found in this 
territory unless as a messenger wearing a badge of 
striped cloth, yet the planters lived in continual fear 
of a new Indian massacre and took good care to bolt 
and bar doors and windows and to secure the gates of 
the stockade before retiring at night. 

41 



In the Seventeenth Century 

Until the middle of the century there were but few 
black slaves compared with the number of white ser- 
vants. In 1672 the population had reached 40,000, of 
whom 6,000 were indentured servants while only one- 
third as many were slaves. A few Indians were en- 
slaved but were never so valuable as the Negroes, one 
of the latter bringing 4,500 pounds of tobacco while an 
Indian was worth but 3,000 pounds. Later the price 
of an adult Negro slave in Elizabeth City County was 
about twenty-five pounds sterling. 

Nails and hinges were very scarce throughout the 
Colony and gates were therefore not usual, draw-bars 
such as are still common in Virginia being used where 
they were needed in the rail fences. Travel was done 
mostly on horseback, the roads being often mere bridal 
paths, or when wider being so much worse than the 
proverbially bad Virginia roads of the present time as 
to be almost impassable for carriages. In 1662 an Act 
of Assembly was passed ordering roads forty feet wide 
to be made, "one to the church, one to the courthouse 
at Jamestown, and one from county to county." There 
was a ferry across the mouth of the Southampton 
River, the ferryman being granted the privilege of 
running it for life on condition that he charged but 
one penny for the transportation of each passenger. 

After the colonists had somewhat recovered from 
the disorganization caused by the events which cul- 
minated in Bacon's Rebellion, one of the first things 
that engaged their attention was the establishment of 
towns for storehouses of tobacco. In 1680 in each 
county fifty acres of land were purchased by the public 
officers and all persons were encouraged to settle on 

42 




D 
O 

X 



u 



o 

fid 



Oh 



<o 



In the Seventeenth Century 

this land who would build a dwelling and warehouse 
thereupon, each such person being assigned half an 
acre of land in fee simple for which he was to pay to 
the county one hundred pounds of tobacco. In Eliza- 
beth City County the plot purchased was on the west 
side of the river on a plantation belonging to one 
Thomas Jervise and the price paid was 10,000 pounds 
of tobacco. This was undoubtedly the reason for the 
establishment of the present town of Hampton on the 
west side of the river. By 1698 the place had become 
of sufficient importance to require a special constable 
and in 1705 it was legally incorporated as a town. 

The last decade of the seventeenth century was 
marked by great prosperity. The Rev. James Blair 
had been appointed Commissary of Virginia and had 
assumed supervision of the churches, thus becoming 
the nearest approach to a bishop that the Episcopal 
Church in America had for two hundred years. At 
his suggestion the Assembly now entered heartily into 
the plan suggested as early as 1619 for establishing a 
college in the Colony, and in 1692 "William and Mary" 
received her charter "to educate young men to be min- 
isters of the Gospel and to propagate the Christian 
faith among the Western Indians." Its first Commence- 
ment was held in 1700 and must have been an inter- 
esting occasion, for there were present not only the 
aristocratic families of Williamsburg, now the capital 
of the Colony, but planters and their families from 
every part of the peninsula arrived by boat or coach, 
while the river was filled with sloops from New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The Indians, too, came 
in to see the spectacle and must have added picturesque- 
ness to the scene. Brafferton Hall in the college yard 

43 



In the Seventeenth Century 

was set apart for a day school for Indians but only a 
few ever availed themselves of these educational privi- 
leges and the attendance was increased by boys from 
the town. The course of study consisted of "reading, 
writing, and vulgar arithmetic." 

It was in the third year of this decade that the first 
post-office in Virginia was established by Governor 
Nicholson. There was a central office at the capital 
and one in each county; the postage for one sheet of 
paper was three cents for a distance not exceeding 
eighty miles. At this time the largest personal prop- 
erty inventoried in Elizabeth City County in a single 
case was worth two hundred and eighty-two pounds 
sterling. The average value of the land was a quarter 
of a pound sterling per acre, while in York County it 
was worth twice as much and in the newer counties 
much less. 

Besides the planters in Virginia there were tanners, 
shoemakers, millers, vinedressers, and pitch and tar 
makers. The people had their churches and free 
schools, a college, plenty of land, many servants, abun- 
dance of fish and game, and a free market in England 
and the other colonies for their surplus products. The 
Indians were far beyond their borders and although 
pirates infected the seas their depredations were not so 
much felt as they were on the Carolina coast. The 
isolated life on the plantations had developed self-re- 
liance and other manly qualities, together with a love 
of liberty which had already shown itself in both 
church and state affairs. The Virginia gentleman 
could look back on a century of adventure, enterprise, 
and growth. In secular matters, at least, the Colony 
was at the height of its prosperity. 

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VI 
PIRATES OF THE VIRGINIA CAPES 

THE seventeenth century was the golden age 
of piracy in America — a period which pro- 
duced the most famous buccaneers of his- 
tory, and whose annals are full of desperate en- 
counters on the high seas which always ended in 
the triumph of the black flag. There is not much 
doubt that the English Navigation Acts were re- 
sponsible for the encouragement of piracy by the 
early colonies. It is not to be wondered at that when 
the colonists discovered that they could neither 
buy nor sell save in an English market which set 
its own prices, they should have become quite will- 
ing to tolerate the lawless traders who could af- 
ford to sell for a song what had cost them only 
hard blows. Neither was it strange that with such 
encouragement the pirates should have rapidly be- 
come bolder and have extended their operations 
along the whole Atlantic coast. 

The history of this time is filled with accounts 
on the one hand of the efforts of the colonists to 
evade the navigation laws and on the other of the 
struggles of the home government to enforce the 
laws against pirates. Charles Town in South Caro- 
lina was a favorite resort of the robbers of the sea, 

45 



Pirates of the Virginia Capes 

and although their welcome varied in warmth from 
time to time, yet until the last decade of the cen- 
tury piratical vessels found safe anchorage in 
Charles Town harbor or in the inlets and coves 
along the coast. During the closing years of the 
century, however, a rapid change came over public 
opinion in South Carolina regarding piracy, and 
Charles Town strung up pirates at the entrance of 
her harbor, scarcely waiting to hurry through a 
formal trial. But driven from South Carolina by 
the enforcement of severe laws, the sea-robbers 
harried the North Carolina coast and were con- 
cealed and befriended by some of the highest 
officials. 

From the new rendezvous they made expedi- 
tions to the Virginia capes and even to the New 
England coast. In the year 1700 a piratical ves- 
sel was seen between Cape Charles and Cape 
Henry and reported to the Shoreham, a fifth-rate 
man-of-war lying in Hampton Roads. Governor 
Nicholson chanced to be at Kecoughtan at the time, 
and hearing the news went on board the Shoreham 
and was present at the engagement between the 
ships which resulted in the surrender of the pirate. 
One is carried back in imagination to that eventful 
twenty-ninth of April 1700 by the epitaph still to 
be seen on a flat black slab on Pembroke Farm 
near Hampton — the site of one of the early churches 
— to the memory of the gallant Peter Heyman: 
"This stone was given by His Excellency, Francis 
Nicholson, Esq., Lieutenant and Governor-General 
of Virginia, in memory of Peter Heyman, Esq., 

46 



Pirates of the Virginia Capes 

grandson to Sir Peter Heyman of Summerneld in 
ye county of Kent — he was collector of customs in 
ye lower district of James River and went volun- 
tarily on board ye king's ship Shoreham in pur- 
suit of a pyrate who greatly infested this coast — 
after he had behaved himself 7 hrs. with undaunted 
courage, was killed with a small shot, ye 29 day of 
April 1700. In the engagement he stood next the 
Governor upon the quarter deck, and was here 
honorably interred by his order." 

Early in 171 7 a notorious sea-robber by the 
name of Stede Bonnet — a wealthy man of Barba- 
does who had been driven by an unhappy marriage 
into the "humour of going a pyrating" — made his 
first cruise off the capes of Virginia, in a sloop 
called the Revenge, and captured a number of mer- 
chant vessels, plundering and burning them and 
sending their crews ashore. He led an adventur- 
ous life filled with all manner of crimes, desperate 
sea-fights, and hair-breadth escapes, and was finally 
executed at Charles Town after one of the most 
famous trials in the history of the Colony. 

On one of his cruises Bonnet fell in with another 
famous pirate — perhaps the most disreputable that 
ever lived — whose name has always been associated 
with Virginia, albeit more on account of the grew- 
some trophy which a brave soldier forced him to 
contribute to the Colony than for any desperate or 
bloody deeds committed against the Virginians. 
Blackbeard must have been a revolting monster in 
appearance ; in fact his ambition was to resemble 
the devil as closely as possible. He received his 
name from the fact that he wore a black beard of 
extraordinary length which he also allowed to grow 

47 



Pirates of the Virginia Capes 

entirely up to his eyes. He was in the habit of 
twisting it with ribbons into small tails and turn- 
ing them up about his ears. When about to en- 
gage in a fight he would stick lighted matches 
under his hat on each side of his face and so make 
himself look like the real demon that he was. He 
wore a sling over his shoulders in which he car- 
ried three brace of pistols hanging in holsters. 

But even this wild sea-robber had occasional 
longings for a quieter life, for he took advantage 
of the proclamation of George the First offering 
pardon to all pirates who would surrender them- 
selves within a year, and gave himself up to Gov- 
ernor Eden of N. C, taking the oath of allegiance 
to the Crown. It was while living thus in "re- 
spectable" idleness that he took unto himself his 
thirteenth wife — a young girl of sixteen ! The at- 
tractions of the old life proved too strong for Black- 
beard however and after a few months he went to 
sea again under the black flag. In the Bay of 
Honduras he met Stede Bonnet and joined forces 
with him, but soon discovering that the gentleman 
from Barbadoes knew nothing of seamanship and 
was held in contempt by his crew, Blackbeard 
coolly deposed him, gave him a subordinate posi- 
tion on another vessel, added the Revenge to his 
own fleet, and making Ocracoke Inlet in North 
Carolina his headquarters, again spread terror 
along the coast. After committing several piracies 
near the Virginia capes he appeared once more be- 
fore Charles Town, captured all outgoing mer- 
chant vessels, and imprisoned a number of its dis- 

48 



Pirates of the Virginia Capes 

tinguished citizens, using them to enforce the most 
outrageous demands on the town. He then sailed 
back to his headquarters and after taking a num- 
ber of prizes shared his plunder with Governor 
Eden, thus securing immunity from punishment. 

The North Carolina planters now became so ex- 
asperated by Blackbeard's depredations that they 
determined to be rid of him, and knowing that they 
could hope for no redress from their own governor 
they applied to Governor Spottswood of Virginia 
for assistance, which was promptly given. A proc- 
lamation was at once issued placing a price on the 
head of Blackbeard, and officers were dispatched 
in command of two sloops to bring the outlaw to 
Virginia, dead or alive. All the world knows the 
story of Lieutenant Maynard's brave fight on the 
deck of his sloop in the shallow waters of Ocra- 
coke Inlet when twelve of his men were killed and 
twenty-two wounded, while he himself engaged 
Blackbeard in a fierce, hand-to-hand struggle which 
finally ended in the pirate's death after he had re- 
ceived twenty-five wounds. With Blackbeard's 
head nailed to his bowsprit and fifteen of the pirate 
crew in irons Maynard sailed back in triumph be- 
tween the Virginia capes. Tradition says that the 
pirate's head was exposed on a pole at the end of 
a sandy point on the west side of Hampton River. 
The spot is known to this day as "Blackbeard's 
Point" and the place near Williamsburg where 
thirteen of Maynard's prisoners were hung is still 
called "Pirates' Road." 

It is a curious fact, recently discovered, and at- 

49 



Pirates of the Virginia Capes 

tested in the valuable monograph on "The Caro- 
lina Pirates and Colonial Commerce" issued by 
Johns Hopkins University, that although Black- 
beard was known as Ned Teach or Thatch of 
Bristol, his real name was Drummond as vouched 
for by "one of his own family and name, of respect- 
able standing, in Virginia near Hampton." It is 
the more curious because the old mansion house 
directly opposite Blackbeard's Point was owned for 
many years by a branch of the Drummond family, 
possibly distant connections of the famous free- 
booter. 

It is not strange perhaps that various ballads 
should have been written about the notorious 
Blackbeard, certainly not that his story should 
have appealed to a boy of thirteen fond of scrib- 
bling verses. Edward Everett Hale tells us in the 
New England Magazine for June 1898 that he dis- 
covered in a recently published volume called "Real 
Sea Songs" a ballad about Blackbeard written by 
Benjamin Franklin when he was thirteen. 



50 



VII 

THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA IN THE 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

THE luxurious manner of living begun in the 
Virginia Colony in the last decade of the 
seventeenth century continued for more than 
half of the eighteenth. The pioneer with firearms 
became "a ruffled dignitary riding in his coach and 
four;" log huts and unpretentious brick dwellings 
gave place to fine manor houses ; forests disap- 
peared and were replaced by cultivated plantations; 
the number of tobacco fields increased and with 
them the number of black slaves; the tobacco was 
carried to England and the ships returned laden 
with rich cargoes, to discharge their treasures at 
their owners' wharves. It was a leisurely time. The 
men were deliberate both in work and pleasure; 
they lingered over their wine and their pipes; they 
drove or rode long distances with their families 
to the plantations of their friends and remained 
for extended visits. The women rode to hounds 
with the men and were as much at home on the 
water as on land, handling a tiller or trimming a 
sail as skillfully as their brothers. 

Many of the planters gathered in the capital 
during the winter, and in the Virginia Gazette of 
that period we find announcements of their pleas- 

51 



In the Eighteenth Century 

ures. "This evening will be performed," we read, 
"by the young Gentlemen of the College, the Tra- 
gedy of Cato." * * * "Last Saturday being His 
Majesty's birthday, the same was observed here 
with firing of guns, illuminations and other demon- 
strations of loyalty, and at night there was a hand- 
some appearance of Gentlemen and Ladies at His 
Honour the Governor's, where was a Ball and an 
Elegant Entertainment." That this was not the 
way "the other half" lived is shown by sundry 
advertisements and notices. Two Negro men — 
runaway slaves — are advertised for ; two others are 
hanged for robbery; a Negro woman is burned 
for killing her mistress ; an Indian servant has 
committed a misdemeanor ; and down in Princess 
Anne County a "witch" is ducked. Yet on the 
whole it was a marvellously happy and picturesque 
age. The slaves were, as a rule, well treated and 
they were devoted to their masters' interests. 
Lower down on the peninsula the plantations were 
small and the slaves few in number. The 'long- 
shoremen lived by their nets and the small land- 
holders by their farms. Hampton was a port of 
entry as well as a shipping port for tobacco and 
there was consequently much business in the way 
of customs and tonnage duties. In fact it was the 
place of greatest trade in Virginia and was also 
the county seat, with courthouse and prison (built 
in 1 716), pillory, whipping-post, and ducking-stool. 
There were then no telegraphs, railways, or elec- 
tric lights. In 1710 a postal service was estab- 
lished that carried letters once a fortnight from 

52 




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In the Eighteenth Century 

Williamsburg to Philadelphia, but it was not till 
twenty years later that through the efforts of Gov- 
ernor Spottswood, then Postmaster-General for the 
American Colonies, a regular mail service was 
started between New England and the James 
River. The time from Philadelphia to Williams- 
burg was reduced to one week, but for points fur- 
ther South the post-rider did not start until enough 
mail had accumulated to make the journey worth 
while ! 

This same Governor Spottswood was perhaps the 
most picturesque figure of this picturesque age. 
He arrived in Virginia just one hundred years after 
Lord De la Warre built the two forts on Hampton 
River to protect the infant town of Kecoughtan. 
He is remembered as one of the best of the Co- 
lonial governors, known far beyond the borders 
of Virginia for his energy and love of justice. We 
have an interesting glimpse of the Indians of Tide- 
water, Virginia, when we read of Spottswood's 
visit in 1716 to his mission school at Fort Chris- 
tanna. "Here," says John Esten Cook, "there were 
seventy-seven Indian children at school. They 
were taught to write and to read the Bible and 
prayerbook. Sixty youths were present (at the 
time of the Governor's visit) with feathers in their 
hair and ears; their faces painted with blue and 
vermilion; and with blue and red blankets around 
their shoulders." In the same year that the Gov- 
ernor visited his Indian mission he led a gallant 
expedition of Virginia cavaliers into the mountains 
that formed the western boundary of the province. 

53 



In the Eighteenth Century 

From the time that the spirited soldier-governor 
thus founded the order of the "Knights of the 
Golden Horseshoe" until his death at Temple Farm 
near Yorktown in 1740, his life was one of great 
activity and usefulness. Now we hear him asking 
his Burgesses why they continue to sit day after 
day and draw their pay for doing nothing if the 
country is too poor, as they claim, to carry out 
needed measures for the public good. Later we 
look on with mingled amusement and regret when 
he is worsted in his quarrel with Commissary 
Blair and obliged to retire from office. Again we 
read with warm interest the story of his happy 
family life in the "enchanted castle" at Germanna, 
as told by Colonel William Byrd of Westover. 
Governor Spottswood was buried at Temple Farm, 
the former name of the Moore House, where in 
1 781 the Revolution came to an end with the sign- 
ing of the articles of capitulation by Lord Corn- 
wallis. 

In 1716 Hampton was a place of one hundred 
houses and the people lived in great comfort. There 
was at this time however no church in the village, 
service being held in the courthouse. The first 
church appears to have stood on the east side of 
Hampton River. The first minister was the Rev. 
Wm. Mease who is said to have come to Virginia 
with Sir Thomas Gates in 1610. The glebe land 
was also on the east side of the river, as well as 
the common land of fifteen hundred acres and the 
company's land of three thousand acres. Here, 
near the "Indian House Thicket" was leased a piece 

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of land by one of the early ministers of this parish 
who, says Lyon G. Tyler in his Cradle of the Re- 
public, was the first exponent of the idea that 
"the only good Indian is a dead Indian," having 
published a letter expressing his belief that it would 
be useless to attempt to civilize the Indians until 
their head men were put to death. It is a curious 
coincidence that Hampton Institute, which has 
helped to prove the falsity of the minister's posi- 
tion by training hundreds of Indians for useful citi- 
zenship, should stand, as it does, so near the spot 
formerly leased by this "man of little faith." About 
the middle of the seventeenth century a new church 
was built at Pembroke Farm, one mile west of 
Hampton, where four ancient tombstones still mark 
its site. It was because this church was out re- 
pair that from 1694 to 1728, when the foundations 
of old St. John's were dug, services were held 
in the courthouse, first in the old one and then in 
the new one built in 1716. 

St. John's Church, then, one of the oldest now 
in use in the United States, dates from 1728 when 
it was built of bricks burned with wood taken 
"from the School land" — the "School" being the 
one established by Benjamin Syms, the first free 
school in America. The bricks were called "Eng- 
lish" but it was because they were made in English 
moulds and not because they were brought from 
England. Bricks of the same kind are found in 
the Jamestown tower, in St. Luke's (1632) at 
Smithfield, in St. Paul's (i739)» Norfolk, and in 
other early Colonial churches. One of the rectors 

55 



In the Eighteenth Century 

of St. John's writes to the Bishop of London some- 
time between 1719 and 1731 that his parish is fifty 
miles in circumference and contains three hundred 
and fifty families, that there are about one hundred 
communicants, and that the slave owners are care- 
ful to instruct the young Negro children and bring 
them to baptism. In 1760 one of the parishioners 
bequeathed forty pounds sterling towards purchas- 
ing a bell "out of England," provided the vestry 
and church wardens would undertake to build the 
belfry within twelve months. The old vestry book 
(dating back to 1751) tells of the contracts awarded 
for building and painting the belfry, and no doubt 
the bell was purchased, for later records speak of 
the "old Queen Anne bell which hung in the tower 
on the west end of the church." 

Since the middle of the seventeenth century 
Elizabeth City Parish has been in possession of the 
oldest and most precious communion silver belong- 
ing to the Episcopal Church in America — a cup, 
chalice, and paten brought to Virginia in 1619. 
They were the gift of one Mistress Robinson in 
England to the church at Smith's (afterward 
Southampton) Hundred, which was destroyed dur- 
ing the Indian massacre of 1622. The silver was 
preserved by Governor Yeardley and after his 
death was kept at Jamestown, being finally trans- 
ferred to Hampton, probably because the place was 
named for the same Earl of Southampton who gave 
his name to Smith's Hundred. They have sur- 
vived three wars and at least three great fires. 

By the middle of the eighteenth century the end 

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of the Colonial period was in sight. The free life 
of the new world had created new modes of 
thought, and old ideas of government began to be 
seriously questioned. Democracy became popular 
and the idea of uniting for resistance to the de- 
mands of the mother country began to agitate the 
colonies. Aristocratic Virginia sounded the alarm 
and it was her sons who were the great leaders of 
the Revolution — Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Mason, 
Washington, Lee, Pendleton, and a host of others. 
Among them was George Wythe, a native of Eliza- 
beth City County, whose home at "Chesterville" 
still stands. He was an eminent jurist, Chancellor 
of Virginia for more than twenty years, and one 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 



57 



VIII 
THE VIKINGS OF VIRGINIA 

THE progress of revolutionary thought in the 
American Colonies during the latter half of 
the eighteenth century is well known. Every 
school boy has his Revolutionary hero and knows 
by heart the celebrated speeches of the famous 
Virginian leaders. What American has not fol- 
lowed with breathless interest the stirring history 
of his country's struggle for independence? Who 
has not kept pace with Jefferson's thought from 
the time he listened — a young law student — out- 
side the door as Patrick Henry thundered against 
the right of the mother country to vest the power 
of taxation in any other body than the Colonial 
Assembly, ending with the famous words, "If this 
be treason, make the most of it," to that other time 
more than ten years later when he drafted the Dec- 
laration of Independence which transformed Eng- 
lishmen into Americans? Who has not wintered 
with Washington in Valley Forge and exulted with 
him at Yorktown and been proud to honor his mem- 
ory as the Father of his Country? But familiar 
as is the story of the Revolution, there is one chap- 
ter that has often been omitted, and it is one that 
is intimately connected with the history of the 
lower Virginia peninsula — the record of the gallant 

58 



The Vikings of Virginia 

State Navy that did such honorable service in the 
bays and creeks and rivers of Tidewater Virginia. 
By the winter of 1774 Virginia was under arms, 
a company of militia having been formed in every 
county, ready on Washington's order to march at 
a minute's notice. In the spring was fought in 
Massachusetts the battle of Lexington, and the 
very next day the haughty Lord Dunmore— "the 
worst governor Virginia ever had" — secretly or- 
dered the gunpowder stored in the magazine at 
Williamsburg to be carried on board the man-of- 
war Magdalen then lying in James River. This 
act threw Virginia into commotion and called out 
the minute-men, obliging Dunmore to leave the 
dangerous little capital. The state being without 
an executive and Washington having been called 
to take command of the Continental Army, a Com- 
mittee of Safety was appointed in Virginia with 
Edmund Pendleton as Chairman. Patrick Henry 
was chosen commander-in-chief of the Virginia 
forces. His famous militia carried for their flag a 
picture of a rattlesnake with the words, "Don't 
Tread on Me," and the men wore green hunting 
shirts bearing the words "Liberty or Death;" it is 
said that they carried tomahawks and scalping 
knives in their belts and wore buck tails in their 
caps. Dunmore in his wrath offered freedom to 
all slaves who would join the King's party, and 
sailed with his royalist friends to the shores of the 
Chesapeake and the rivers that make into the lower 
peninsula, ravaging plantations and laying waste 
the country. Elizabeth City County was espe- 

59 



The Vikings of Virginia 

cially exposed to his attacks and to those of British 
privateers. Many homes were burned to the 
ground, crops were destroyed, and slaves were car- 
ried off to the West Indies. Dunmore's last act 
was to bombard the city of Norfolk and burn it to 
the ground. The whole country was aroused and 
the Committee of Safety was authorized to pro- 
cure armed vessels for the protection of the coast. 

In April 1776 there appeared in the Virginia 
Gazette a call for ships' carpenters and the building 
of the Virginia Navy went on apace. Many of the 
ships were built at Hampton, some in Norfolk, 
some in Accomac, some at the shipyard on the 
Chickahominy. Others belonged to the merchant 
marine and were purchased and armed for the state 
service, the new rigging having always "the 
rogue's yarn" to distinguish it from that of the 
merchant ships. For "a hundred wild sea-blown 
years" had adventurers, pirates, and sea captains 
sailed their ships up and down the Chesapeake and 
in and out among its sinuous waterways ; fisher- 
men lined the shores and had explored in their 
canoes every inlet and cove; it was not difficult 
therefore to man the new ships with watermen of 
every description, only too eager to chase the pri- 
vateers and to defend their homes. They became 
the Vikings of Virginia, darting hither and thither 
in their fast-sailing craft and surprising and cap- 
turing many a plunder-laden ship. 

A Board of Naval Commissioners was appointed 
in May 1776 to direct the affairs of the navy, and 
by midsummer a fleet of seventy vessels was in 

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commission. It was rightly called a "mosquito 
fleet," for the vessels were all small, and they were 
probably the fastest sailers in the world — except 
the lateens of the Mediterranean. Then they were 
of such light draught that they were perfectly at 
home in the shallow inlets, where they gave the 
enemy many a sting that was long remembered. 
The fleet included frigates, brigs, brigantines, 
schooners, sloops, galleys, and armed pilot boats 
and barges. Some were row-galleys, one-half 
decked over and provided with high and strong 
bulwarks. These galleys looked like huge water 
spiders, being broad and flat and usually rigged as 
schooners with two or three masts. They were 
used as "lookouts" or flying sentinels as well as 
for transports for troops, each being large enough 
to carry a company of sixty-eight men with arms 
and baggage. The average length of deck was 
seventy feet and they were heavily armed, carry- 
ing two twenty-four or thirty-two pounders in bow 
and stern and seven smaller guns along each side. 
The largest ships carried thirty-two guns each; 
one of them — the Gloucester — was a prison ship 
and was moored in Hampton Creek or in Eliza- 
beth River. The ships of the Virginia Navy sailed 
as fleets on only two occasions, once in Hampton 
Roads to give help to the troops in Portsmouth and 
once in James River. In each case the fleet con- 
sisted of fourteen ships. As Virginia had no dis- 
tinctive state flag it is probable that Patrick 
Henry's famous banner was used in the navy. Only 
one of the Virginia ships survived the war — the 

61 



The Vikings of Virginia 

gallant Liberty — which fought in. twenty distinct 
actions and was twice sunk in the rivers. Instead 
of being retained by the state, as she should have 
been, she was sold to a trader in the West Indies. 
Of all the brave and dashing Virginia Vikings, 
Commodore James Barron of Hampton was doubt- 
less the master spirit. He was born in 1740 when 
his father, Captain iBarron, was Commander of 
Fort George at Old Point Comfort. Here he lived 
for nine years, when a hurricane destroyed the 
fortifications and the family moved further up the 
peninsula. The boy James began his sea life when 
he was but ten years old; he soon became second 
mate and later was given command of a small ves- 
sel, the Kecoughtan. He and his brother, Rich- 
ard Barron, became pilots and with their swift 
boats gave Governor Dunmore and his Tory friends 
much trouble. On one occasion, before the forma- 
tion of the State Navy, they were chased into Hamp- 
ton by the British schooner Otter which however 
ran aground. They immediately attacked and 
burned her, the crew escaping. In revenge for 
this act, angry Captain Squires appeared in Hamp- 
ton Creek with six armed sloops and made an at- 
tack on the town. But the townspeople, antici- 
pating this, had applied for help to the Committee 
of Safety. One hundred Culpeper minute-men re- 
sponded and with the Hampton militia, among 
whom was James Barron, concealed themselves be- 
hind bushes and houses and made a fierce resist- 
ance, sinking or destroying five of the sloops. It 
was in the summer of the following year that the 

62 



The Vikings of Virginia 

Virginia Navy was organized and Hampton was 
not again attacked by the British. 

The story of the "web-footed Barrons" would al- 
most make a naval history. James Barron the 
elder was made one of the three commodores of 
the State Navy and in 1779 became senior officer, 
receiving his commission as "commander-in-chief 
of all the armed forces of the Commonwealth" 
from Colonel Thomas Whiting of Hampton who 
was President of the Naval Board.* Commodore 
Barron rendered Virginia valuable service during 
the Revolutionary War, not only in his official 
capacity but by loaning money and stores and by 
aiding in procuring supplies for the army, particu- 
larly during the siege of Yorktown. He served 
with his brother, Captain Richard Barron, during 
the whole war, commanding the famous ship Lib- 
erty in many gallant fights. The Patriot which 
also has an interesting history was commanded by 
Captain Richard Barron for at least a portion of the 
time. The two sons of Commodore James Barron, 
James, the younger, and Samuel, were both at- 
tached to the State Navy, and afterwards won dis- 
tinction in the United States Navy, both becoming 
commodores and being conspicuous for their brav- 
ery and for their executive ability. 

Lieutenant Cunningham of the Virginia Navy, 
who when a prisoner in Portsmouth made such a 
daring and romantic escape, running the guard and 



* This commission, signed by Jefferson, is now in pos- 
session of Mrs. Janie Hope Marr of Lexington, Va., one 
of the descendants of Commodore Barron. 

63 



The Vikings of Virginia 

swimming the river to join his wife in the woods 
on the other side, was also a native of Hampton. 
No official record has been kept of the exploits 
of the State Navy, but we find scattered reports here 
and there of daring feats and successful captures. 
The movements of the ships were not confined to 
the Roads or to the Bay, for we read that in Sep- 
tember 1776 six ships were ordered to the West 
Indies to buy supplies; and more than once their 
battles were fought outside the capes. In June 
1776 the Barron brothers seized the Oxford, a 
British transport, off the capes, taking prisoners 
two hundred and seventeen Highland soldiers; and 
in July Captain Richard Barron captured in the 
same place a Tory sloop from the West Indies and 
a large brig carrying provisions from England. 
Again, we read of a son of Commodore James Bar- 
ron (Captain Sam Barron), who distinguished him- 
self in an action with an enemy's vessel in Hamp- 
ton Creek. When the enemy surrendered, it was 
found that more British were killed and wounded 
than there were Americans on the Virginia vessel. 
In 1779, however, a British fleet appeared in Hamp- 
ton Roads and captured a large number of Ameri- 
can vessels, the smaller ones retiring to the shal- 
low bays and rivers. Later, in 1781, the roadstead 
was again in possession of a British fleet filled with 
Cornwallis's army, which had just evacuated Ports- 
mouth. In May of this year one of the little Vir- 
ginia vessels successfully eluded the whole of the 
British fleet, passing directly through it under cover 
of night. It was probably about this time that the 

64 



The Vikings of Virginia 

last fight of the Patriot was witnessed by three 
loyal friends, Captain Mark Starlin and two of the 
Barrons, who were lying in the woods on the north 
shore of James River watching for a boat to take 
them across, when to their great joy they saw the 
plucky little Patriot, sailed by a Captain Watkins, 
chasing an English ship up the river. It was but 
a ruse of the British, however, who suddenly turned 
and gave battle, capturing the little vessel. Cap- 
tain Starlin was an African slave but commanded 
his own boat and was given authority equal to that 
of other officers of the same rank. A number of 
other black seamen helped to man the Virginia 
navy. 

While the army of Cornwallis was occupying 
Hampton Roads, foraging parties were landed 
daily on James River and were often discovered 
and given battle by the local militia. Colonel 
Francis Mallory of Hampton took an active part 
in these skirmishes and was at one time taken 
prisoner and held on board one of the ships of the 
British fleet. His brother, Captain Edward Mal- 
lory, tried in vain to secure his release until he 
succeeded in making prisoner a certain Captain 
Brown who had been out for provisions. This 
officer was exchanged for Colonel Mallory but was 
so severely wounded that he died before he could 
be removed to his ship. Although he had been 
warned not to take up arms against the British 
again, Colonel Mallory was soon at his old work 
and met a force of four hundred British soldiers 
with forty of his militia at the bridge connecting 

65 



The Vikings of Virginia 

York and Elizabeth City counties. The Americans 
made a stubborn resistance against overwhelming 
numbers, and the enemy, recognizing Mallory, who 
had refused a chance to escape, shot him down and 
ran him through with their bayonets. His buff 
vest, which was preserved by his family, was 
pierced by eleven bayonet holes. 

When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, not 
a vestige of the Virginia Navy remained except the 
Liberty. Commodore Barron retired to his home 
at Hampton but, hearing that an English privateer 
had captured a Baltimore vessel bound to Hamp- 
ton, true to his Viking spirit he hastily collected 
twenty of his old associates, manned a schooner, 
and gave chase to the Englishman, recapturing the 
Baltimore vessel. "As long as there was a plank 
to stand on or a flag to follow" he fought for the 
cause of his country's liberty — a worthy representa- 
tive of an illustrious family. 



66 



IX 
HAMPTON IN THREE WARS 

DURING the century between 1770 and 1870 
the little town of Hampton was visited by 
three wars. Owing to the numerous arms 
of the sea that indent the coast of eastern Virginia, 
Hampton and the outlying plantations were pe- 
culiarly exposed to attacks by sea, and during the 
Revolutionary period so great was the danger from 
this source that the gallant little State Navy was 
organized, as we have seen, for coast defense. 
Skirmishes between the militia and detachments 
from Dunmore's and Cornwallis's fleets in the 
Roads, continued during the whole period of the 
war, but after the repulse of Captain Squire's 
force in 1775 there was no attack on Hampton dur- 
ing the Revolution. 

Tradition says that in 1776, shortly after the 
declaration of independence, the steeple of St. 
John's Church was struck by lightning and the 
royal coat of arms which had adorned it was 
thrown to the ground. However that may be, the 
people certainly threw off the English yoke and 
made a stand for democratic equality. The change 
was apparent not only in government affairs but 
in social and domestic matters. Simplicity of dress 
became the rule, ceremony and pomp in public 

67 



Hampton in Three Wars 

functions were discarded, class distinctions became 
weaker, and the great plantations dwindled in 
size. Fortunately the old English love of outdoor 
life and sports, and the cordiality and hospitality 
of his ancestors, remained to the Virginian; and 
hunting, fishing, fox hunting, and the entertainment 
of guests are still the chief pleasures of the resi- 
dents of Tidewater Virginia. 

The War of 1812 was more destructive than the 
Revolution in its effect on the town of Hampton. 
Admiral Cockburn, who commanded a British fleet 
lying in the Roads, made an attack on Hampton 
June 25, 1813. Landing a force of 2,500 men at 
what is now "Indian River," he himself sailed with 
a small fleet towards Hampton Creek, appearing 
off Blackbeard's Point from whence he shelled the 
town. The water front was protected by seven 
small guns and four hundred and fifty militia who 
were encamped at "Little England" farm (now 
known as West End) under command of Colonel 
Crutchfield. The little garrison repulsed the enemy 
for a time, but the latter, joining the land party, 
obliged Colonel Crutchfield's force to retreat up 
the peninsula, in which direction many of the in- 
habitants had already fled. The outrages permitted 
by the British during their two days' stay have 
made this occupation of Hampton notorious in his- 
tory. The town was given up to pillage and the 
inhabitants assaulted and robbed. This vandalism 
is attributed to the French prisoners, who formed 
part of the British force and were fresh from sim- 
ilar scenes of plunder and outrage in Spain. 

68 




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Hampton in Three Wars 

Mr. Richard B. Servant, who was for many 
years secretary of the vestry of St. John's Church, 
says that when he came into town, a boy of twelve, 
after the British had evacuated it in 1813, he found 
that they had used the old graveyard as a slaughter 
house for cattle and that the church walls bore 
marks of fires that the soldiers had kindled to cook 
their meals. The interior of the church had been 
used as a common barrack. Just before the war 
the old Queen Anne bell of the parish had been re- 
moved to the militia camp at "Little England." 
The tongue had become loose and an axe that had 
been used to strike the hour and cracked the famous 
old bell. From this time to 1824 the church was 
allowed to go to decay and became a common 
shelter for horses, cattle, and hogs. Religion must 
have been at a low ebb indeed to have allowed such 
desecration of a sacred edifice in time of peace. It 
is said that when efforts were finally made to re- 
store the church, it was difficult to find more than 
a half-dozen prayerbooks in the parish. The first 
suggestion to restore the church property to its 
former condition was made in 1822 or 1823 by Mrs. 
Jane Hope, the eldest daughter of Commodore 
James Barron. Her suggestion was acted upon 
by Mr. Servant who succeeded in raising funds to 
rebuild the walls of the graveyard and to place a 
wrought-iron gate at the entrance. A meeting of 
the friends of the church followed and a vestry 
was elected, the members of which made a deter- 
mined effort to raise funds for the repair of the 
church. At this time nothing was standing but 

69 . 



Hampton in Three Wars 

bare walls and a leaky roof; nothing else re- 
mained but the English tiles on the floor, all the 
church furniture having been destroyed. Fortu- 
nately the vestry book had been carefully pre- 
served by a resident and is still intact, a moth- 
eaten, crumbling volume containing the parish rec- 
ords since 1751. The church enclosure was cleaned 
and occasional services held while the repairs were 
going on, some of the worshipers sitting on the 
bare tiles of the floor. Early in 1830 these repairs 
were completed and the church was consecrated 
by Bishop Moore. The old bell was recast and re- 
mained for many years the best bell in the country. 

For thirty-one years the parish records of St. 
John's continue unbroken ; then again, in 1861, all 
but the walls and the vestry book are sacrificed. 
On a midsummer night, in order to prevent its oc- 
cupation by Federal troops, Hampton was fired by 
the property owners of the town — officers and 
soldiers in the Confederate army — "to demonstrate 
the intense earnestness of the people in the cause 
they had espoused and for which they considered 
no sacrifice too great." But five houses and the 
church walls remained standing on the site of the 
attractive little village of Hampton. Only one of 
these houses is now standing. There were but few 
people in the town and these were notified of the 
plans of General Magruder, the commanding 
officer, who had reluctantly yielded to the wishes 
of the inhabitants to destroy their two hundred 
thousand dollars' worth of property. The Negroes 

70 




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Hampton in Three Wars 

remaining in Hampton crossed the Creek and took 
refuge within the Union lines. 

Fort Monroe and all the peninsula as far as 
Hampton bridge were at this time in the hands of 
the Federal troops under General Butler. The 
main body of the army occupied Camp Hamilton, 
a wilderness of tents lying between the Mill Creek 
bridge and the present grounds of Hampton Insti- 
tute. On both sides of Mill Creek were large 
granaries and also cattle yards, which were filled 
with two or three thousand head of cattle for the 
Army of the Potomac. The main building of the 
Soldiers' Home was used as an officers' hospital 
and was known as Chesapeake Hospital. This 
was connected by a bridge with the Hampton Hos- 
pital, the general receiving point for sick and 
wounded soldiers of the armies in Virginia. It 
was organized in August 1862,* and between that 
time and April 1864, 6,540 patients were received. 
The hospital was placed on the present site of 
Hampton Institute and was a picturesque village 
of about thirty cottage houses, one hundred and 
twenty-five by twenty-five feet, forming a triangle 
which embraced a large lawn. A farm of a hun- 
dred acres was attached to the hospital and was 
cultivated mainly by "contrabands," who flocked by 
thousands to the peninsula seeking the protection 
of the Federal army. Twelve hundred of them 
were landed in one night at Old Point wharf. The 



* For many of the facts relating to the Hampton Hos- 
pital we are indebted to an article which appeared in 
Harper's Magazine for August 1864. 

7i 



Hampton in Three Wars 

road passing the hospital ran in a nearly straight 
line from the Hampton bridge to the officers' hos- 
pital and was provided with a horse-car line for the 
transportation of men and supplies. In 1864 the 
convalescent soldiers built Bethesda Chapel in what 
was afterwards the Soldiers' Cemetery, and this 
was for a time the only church in Hampton in 
which services were held. The town was occupied 
during the war chiefly by contrabands, who built 
rude shelters against the chimneys that survived 
the fire, and for some years afterward only small, 
one-story frame buildings were to be found there. 
The twentieth-century visitor to the trim little city, 
with its brick blocks, paved streets, electric rail- 
ways, and handsome dwellings, finds it difficult to 
picture the war-time desolation. 



72 



X 

HAMPTON SCHOOLS BETWEEN 1850 AND 

1870 

ELIZABETH City County has the honor not 
only of being the home of the first free school 
in America but of being one of the only two 
counties in the state which voted for a free-school 
system nearly twenty years before its establish- 
ment throughout the South in 1870. In the old rec- 
ords of this county is the following entry: "At a 
county court held January 25th, 1851, it was re- 
solved that the present Board of School Commis- 
sioners for this county be appointed a committee 
to meet at their earliest convenience and lay off 
this county in School Districts as directed by the 
new Code of Virginia and report to the Court." 
On referring to the "new Code" we find that this 
order to divide the county into school districts must 
have followed the adoption, by a vote of the county, 
of the public-school system authorized by an Act 
of the Assembly of 1845-46; it indicates that there 
was, even at that early day, a strong public senti- 
ment in Hampton in favor of education at public 
expense. Previous to this time the children of the 
county had been educated at the Syms-Eaton 

73 . 



Hampton Schools 

Academy,* a consolidation of the two free schools 
established in the seventeenth century by Benja- 
min Syms (1634) and Thomas Eaton (1659). The 
funds owned by the trustees of this institution 
were not sufficient for its entire support, and many 
children were permitted to attend who paid tui- 
tion, thus supplementing the fund. The instruction 
they received was of a high grade and the princi- 
palship was considered an honor. Mr. John B. 
Cary was its last principal, serving for seven years, 
until it became a part of the free-school system in 
185 1. By an act of the Assembly the new Board 
of School Commissioners became the successors of 
the "Board of Trustees and Governors" of the 
Syms-Eaton Academy and were invested with all 
the property belonging to that board. This 
amounted to about ten thousand dollars, the in- 
terest of which was used to supplement the local 
tax levy for school purposes. Other schools were 
established in the various districts, and the subjects 
taught were changed to those of the ordinary dis- 
trict school. From Mrs. Armstrong's pamphlet on 
the Syms-Eaton Academy we learned that "the 
mortgage bonds in which the Syms-Eaton fund 
had been invested were in the hands of Colonel 
J. C. Phillips (of Hampton), and were taken by 
his family with their own papers when, early in 



* For a full account of the Syms-Eaton Academy see 
a pamphlet on the subject by the late Mrs. Wm. Arm- 
strong, for sale by the Hampton Chapter of the Asso- 
ciation for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Ad- 
dress Miss Dorothy Armstrong, Hampton, Va. 

74 



Hampton Schools 

the war, they refugeed to Richmond. Thanks to 
a faithful guardianship the little bundle of deeds 
passed safely through the risks of fire and flight 
and siege, and were at the end brought back to be 
once more recorded as 'Those bonds which are 
payable to the Trustees of Hampton Academy, and 
now, by operation of the Statutes, the property of 
the County School Board of Elizabeth City 
County.' ! The interest of this fund is still used 
to help defray the expenses of the public schools of 
the county. 

In 185 1 Mr. Cary established an excellent school 
called the Hampton Military Academy, which was 
attended by young men and women from all parts 
Of Virginia and other Southern states, many of 
whom afterwards became distinguished. Among 
them were Captain James Barron Hope of Norfolk, 
Captain Gordon McCabe of Richmond, and Colonel 
Thomas Tabb of Hampton ; the last was both 
pupil and teacher there. Both ancient and modern 
languages were taught, as well as music and mathe- 
matics. The discipline was strict, "Order is 
Heaven's first law" being the motto of the school. 
The educational and moral ideas were of the high- 
est and the equipment among the best of the time. 
Mr. Cary's old pupils speak of him with enthu- 
siasm. He was like Arnold of Rugby — a great 
teacher. At the breaking out of war Mr. Cary was 
commissioned by General Lee major of all the 
Hampton troops, and was afterwards promoted for 
gallantry at Bethel to be lieutenant colonel of the 
thirty-second Virginia regiment commanded by 

75 . 



Hampton Schools 

Colonel Ewell, President of William and Mary 
College. After the war, Colonel Cary returned to 
Richmond where he served as superintendent of 
public schools and in various capacities on school 
boards, always showing marked ability as an edu- 
cator. 

In 1854 there was established near Hampton an- 
other school which was well known during its 
short existence, the Chesapeake Female College 
— now the main building of the National Soldiers' 
Home. It was built by a Baptist minister, one 
Martin Forey, who however failed to make a suc- 
cess of it and sold it in 1859 to a board of trustees. 
A Colonel Raymond was principal until the war 
broke out and the school was disbanded. It was 
used during the war as a hospital for wounded offi- 
cers and was afterwards purchased by General 
Butler who sold it to the Government. 

When Hampton was burned in 1861 nothing was 
left of the old schools or in fact of the town. The 
walls of St. John's Church were left standing and 
those of one or two houses. Many chimneys sur- 
vived the fire and against these were built tempo- 
rary shacks. When the hospital wards were sold 
many of them were utilized in the town — some of 
them for stores and several for the hotel, which 
also made use of hospital beds, tables, and chairs. 
While the old church was being rebuilt through 
the faithful efforts of the few remaining members 
of the society, the handful of worshipers had serv- 
ice, more or less irregularly, in the Odd Fellows' 
Hall on Court Street, known as Patrick Henry 

76 




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Hampton Schools 

Hall. The first regular rector after the war was 
the Rev. J. B. McCarty, who had been a chaplain 
in the Federal army and who gave his services to 
St. John's Parish for two years, winning the love 
and confidence of all with whom he came in con- 
tact. 

During the war there were no youth in Hampton 
to go to school except the thousands of Negro 
contrabands who flocked to the peninsula. Here 
were children of all ages eager to learn to read. 
Who was to teach them? The lower peninsula 
was occupied by the Federal army. It became the 
duty of the North to provide schools for the freed- 
men, at least temporarily. As early as 1861 there 
were six hundred fugitives in the vicinity of Fort 
Monroe. The first teacher to come from the North 
was the Rev. J. C. Lockwood, sent by the Ameri- 
can Missionary Association, who opened a school 
on September 17, 1861, in the Red Cottage near the 
Chesapeake Female College, which was taught by 
Mrs. Peake, an educated colored woman. By the end 
of October Mr. Lockwood had started four other 
schools all taught by colored teachers. In 1862 
Captain Charles B. Wilder was appointed super- 
intendent of contrabands, and soon afterwards the 
courthouse in Hampton, whose walls had survived 
the fire, was fitted up for a graded school. The 
number of refugees and the number of schools con- 
tinued to increase until in December 1864 there 
were in Hampton and its vicinity five schools with 
about seven hundred pupils. In 1865 the court- 
house reverted to the county authorities and the 

77 



Hampton Schools 

graded school for freedmen was transferred to 
the Lincoln School, which had been built of old 
hospital wards. In this year also, the large school 
for the contrabands built by General Butler in 
1863 was made over to the American Missionary 
Association by General Howard. A year later there 
were fourteen hundred pupils in the day schools 
and three hundred in the night schools. 

The question of the advisability of establishing a 
training school for colored teachers in this vicinity 
now began to be discussed in the American Mis- 
sionary Magazine. In March 1866, Captain Wilder 
had been succeeded by General Samuel C. Arm- 
strong as superintendent of contrabands and officer 
in charge of the Freedmen's Bureau. From the 
beginning he took special interest in the schools, 
having charge of those in ten counties in eastern 
Virginia. It was his suggestion that Hampton 
would be a fitting spot for a permanent training 
school for colored teachers. In a letter written in 
July 1867 he offered his services to the American 
Missionary Association, and when it was finally 
decided by that organization to establish a normal 
school at Hampton, General Armstrong, with his 
missionary inheritance, his war experience with 
colored troops, and his common-sense ideas of the 
development of character by self-help, was felt to 
be the proper person to put at its head. The Chesa- 
peake Hospital was suggested for the site of the 
school but by General Armstrong's earnest advice 
this was rejected and "Little Scotland," or the 
Wood plantation, consisting of one hundred and 

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Hampton Schools 

twenty-five acres, was purchased. The school was 
opened in April 1868 with two teachers and fifteen 
pupils, its main building consisting of remodelled 
hospital wards, the other buildings being the old 
mansion house of the plantation and Wood's mill 
transformed into a dwelling house. Such was the 
humble beginning of an institution now known 
throughout the civilized world as the pioneer of 
industrial schools, and which has more than twelve 
hundred students, and over six thousand graduates 
and ex- students. In 1870 The Hampton Normal 
and Agricultural Institute ceased to be a school of 
the American Missionary Association, being incor- 
porated as a private institution under a special 
Act of the Virginia Legislature. In the same year 
a system of public schools for both races was estab- 
lished in Virginia. 



79 



XI 

VIRGINIA'S SECOND COLONIAL CAPITAL, 
WILLIAMSBURG 

THE capital of the Virginia Colony was trans- 
ferred in 1698 from Jamestown to Williams- 
burg, seven miles away in a "more salubri- 
ous situation." The visitor to the "Cradle of the 
Republic" who would follow the fortunes of the 
little colony, drives across the causeway connect- 
ing the island with the mainland, and along the 
same winding, sandy road over which the early 
settlers traveled in the last years of the seventeenth 
century, leaving behind them their homes and 
their church in the little village on the river bank 
where they had seen much misery but also, may- 
hap, much happiness. Williamsburg, or "Middle 
Plantation," was at this time but thirty-six years 
old and life there was most primitive. Stools and 
benches and strong four-posters constituted the 
furniture of the rude pioneer cabins and the horse 
trough served as the family wash-basin. But after 
it became the capital conditions improved rapidly, 
substantial houses appeared, and silver as well as 
pewter began to shine on polished mahogany side- 
boards. 

Even before this the colonists, most of whom 
were not in sympathy with Governor Berkeley 

80 



Virginia s Second Colonial Capital 

when he thanked God there were no free schools 
in Virginia and hoped there would be none for a 
hundred years, had begun to plan seriously for 
some opportunity for higher education if only that 
they need not be at the expense of sending their 
sons to England when they wished to study for a 
profession. To be sure, Harvard College had been 
founded, but to go from Virginia to Massachusetts 
in those days was almost as much of an undertak- 
ing as to go to England. So in 1691 Commissary 
Blair (the same whose body now lies in the ancient 
graveyard at Jamestown) went across the water 
seeking a charter for a college. He succeeded in 
obtaining an appropriation of two thousand pounds 
in money and twenty thousand acres of land, with 
a tax of "a penny a pound on all tobacco exported 
from Maryland and Virginia, together with the 
fees and profits arising from the office of surveyor- 
general." The Commissary returned triumphant, 
with his charter and his contributions and was 
forthwith made President of William and Mary 
College, which office he held for fifty years. The 
college was for some time as English as its name, 
the teachers being appointed by the Bishop of 
London who retained for himself the office of Chan- 
cellor. It was not alone for the education of their 
children that the Virginia colonists were solicitous. 
They felt a responsibility for the Indians among 
whom they were living and very early in the his- 
tory of William and Mary the income from the 
English landed estate of Brafferton was set aside 
for the use of the Indians, a special building by 



Virginia s Second Colonial Capital 

that name being put up for them. The first Com- 
mencement of the college was held in 1700 and 
excited much interest, the roads being filled with 
coaches and the river with sloops from the outlying 
plantations and even from New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Maryland, while the Indians in gala cos- 
tume came in afoot and added to the picturesque- 
ness of the scene. 

The icollege was designed by Sir Christopher 
Wren, and was a substantial brick building of two 
stories with dormer windows in the roof; it con- 
tained, besides dormitories and classrooms, a li- 
brary, and a chapel extending to the rear. Here 
the House of Burgesses met until 1705 when the 
capitol was built at the opposite end of the straight, 
mile-long Duke of Gloucester Street. This was 
also a plain, two-story brick building but in the 
form of the letter H, with a portico in front. Hard 
by was the Raleigh Tavern, a wooden building, 
one full story in height with an attic above lit by 
eight dormer windows in each wing. There was 
an entrance door near the centre of each front and 
over one of these a leaden bust of Sir Walter 
Raleigh. Its most famous apartment was the 
Apollo Room, which had a deep fireplace with a 
door on either side and was adorned with a carved 
wainscoting under the windows and over the 
mantel. When Spottswood became governor in 
1 714, the Governor's Palace, midway between the 
college and the capitol on an estate of four hun- 
dred acres, was added to this group of historic 
buildings. In a public square in the centre of the 

82 




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Virginia s Second Colonial Capital 

town, Spottswood built also, in obedience to an 
Act of the Burgesses, the octagonal brick Powder 
Horn with its quaint, steep-pitched roof. When 
first built it was surrounded by an outer wall and 
formed a complete magazine, with powder room, 
armory, and blacksmith shop. 

About this same time, in 1715, Bruton Church 
was completed, being built on plans made by the 
same energetic and versatile Governor Spottswood. 
This church was the centre of the interesting 
group of buildings in Old Williamsburg. Cruci- 
form in shape, the long arm abutted on the Palace 
Green and stretched along the Duke of Gloucester 
Street, having a tower at the western end towards 
the college. It was built, like all the other early 
public buildings, of brick made in English moulds, 
and over these, especially at the eastern end, the 
ivy soon threw a mantle of green. The windows 
were made of small square panes of plain white 
glass and most of them are still unbroken in spite 
of the ravages of two wars. The churchyard was 
enclosed by a low brick wall with a stone coping, 
the land being the gift of Sir John Page, ancestor 
of the present Page family of Rosewell in Glouces- 
ter County. Flagstone walks led to the church 
doors and the aisles within were paved with the 
same material. Up these aisles from the tower en- 
trance walked the stately Burgesses when they met 
for prayer before proceeding to the business of 
state, and here walked also each Sunday and on 
fast days the court processions — the governor and 
the council of state in their gorgeous robes and 

83 



Virginia s Second Colonial Capital 

carrying emblazoned banners. The governor's pew, 
elevated, large, and square, and canopied with rich 
crimson velvet, occupied one of the corners made 
by the meeting of the transepts and nave, and the 
high pulpit with its sounding board was placed on 
the opposite corner, the choir behind it as in Eng- 
lish cathedrals, and the chancel at the eastern end. 

It was a gay little capital — Old Williamsburg — 
so gay that it was said to resemble the Court of 
St. James. Withal it was picturesque. Gentle- 
men rode dressed in bright colored velvets and 
ruffles, the clergy in dignified black, and the judges 
in scarlet, while the mechanics appeared in red 
flannel shirts, and with leathern aprons over buck- 
skin breeches. The students of William and Mary 
wore academic dress. It was the age of the hoop- 
skirt, and on dress occasions such as a ball at Gov- 
ernor Spottswood's, the ladies wore over the hoop- 
skirt trailing gowns of heavy brocade, while their 
hair was dressed very high and adorned with 
feathers, ribbons, and lace. The Colonial governors 
lived in great state, driving to public functions in 
a carriage drawn by six milk-white horses. Their 
families and those of the House of Burgesses added 
much to the brilliancy of the social life. In the 
middle of the eighteenth century theatre going was 
added to the list of Colonial entertainments, the 
"Charming Sally" bringing from England a com- 
pany of players in charge of Lewis Hallam, who 
presented "The Merchant of Venice" to Williams- 
burg societv. 

But life there was not a mere butterfly existence. 

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Virginia's Second Colonial Capital 

In attendance at William and Mary were the mak- 
ers of the nation — for the nation was then in mail- 
ing — Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of In- 
dependence ; Harrison, Braxton, Nelson, and Wythe, 
four of its signers; Peyton Randolph, President of 
the First Continental Congress ; and many others 
prominent in Revolutionary history. Washington 
took his degree as civil engineer at this college and 
was its first American Chancellor. It was in Wil- 
liamsburg in her mansion on the Six Chimney Lot 
that he wooed and won the Widow Custis. At the 
capitol Patrick Henry was a prominent figure and 
his emphatic words, "If that be treason, make the 
most of it," resounded from its walls. With Wash- 
ington and Jefferson in legislative assembly in 
1769, he drew up the famous resolutions asserting 
that the people of Virginia could be taxed only by 
their own representatives, and declaring it to be 
both lawful and expedient for all the colonies to 
unite in protest against any violation of American 
rights. Henry was one of those who, when the 
assembly was dissolved by Lord Botetourt and 
again when it was disbanded by Lord Dunmore, 
retired to the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern, 
the last time passing those resolutions which re- 
sulted in the assembling of the First Continental 
Congress. The Apollo Room of the Raleigh prob- 
ably witnessed "more scenes of brilliant festivity 
and political excitement than any other single 
apartment in North America." 

Little Williamsburg was the birthplace of the 
Revolution. In other parts of the Colony the fires 

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Virginia's Second Colonial Capital 

of revolution smouldered until fanned into flame 
by Dunmore's stealing of the powder and his wan- 
ton act in the burning of Norfolk. Then indeed the 
demand for liberty became imperative and a reso- 
lution was unanimously passed instructing the Vir- 
ginia delegates to ask Congress to declare the 
United Colonies free and independent states. When 
the news was received in Williamsburg the town 
went wild, church bells were rung, guns fired, and 
the British flag was hauled down from the capitol, 
the thirteen stripes being run up in its stead. 

After this demonstration things seem to have 
quieted down at the little capital; the scene had 
shifted to the Northern battlefields. It was in De- 
cember of the first year of the war that the Phi Beta 
Kappa Society, the oldest Greek letter fraternity in 
the United States, was organized at William and 
Mary, and it was in 1779 that the college was reor- 
ganized by Jefferson and the elective system intro- 
duced. High tide had been reached in its affairs. 
During the Revolution it lost its most important 
sources of revenue and has never regained its former 
prestige. Virginia did not become the battlefield 
until Cornwallis began his retreat down the penin- 
sula in June 1781. Lafayette followed him closely 
and on July 6 an action took place at Green Spring, 
once Governor Berkeley's country home, where the 
Americans were repulsed. Cornwallis then occu- 
pied Yorktown and the surrender followed in Oc- 
tober. At this time Bruton Church was used as a 
hospital. During its occupancy by Lafayette's 
troops, the house of the president of William and 

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Virginia's Second Colonial Capital 

Mary, a fine specimen of eighteenth century archi- 
tecture, was accidentally destroyed by fire, but was 
restored by King Louis XVI from his private funds. 
This house was used at one time as the headquar- 
ters of Cornwallis. Washington later had his head- 
quarters in the home of Chancellor Wythe on Palace 
Green. 

After the Revolution and the transference of the 
capital to Richmond, Williamsburg lost its impor- 
tance, and the present visitor to the little city finds 
it a dreamy, charming, restful spot, quiet and aristo- 
cratic, its Court and Palace Greens dotted with but- 
tercups among which cattle browse, the old 
churchyard overgrown, and the stones crumbling 
away. The site of the "magnificent" Palace with its 
cupola illuminated on the King's birth-night, is oc- 
cupied by a free school of the American Republic, 
and its "grounds" have disappeared. In place of the 
famous Raleigh Tavern has risen a modern dry- 
goods store, and though the Duke of Gloucester 
Street still stretches from the college to the site of 
the capitol, whose foundations have been marked 
out by the Colonial Chapter of the A. P. V. A., it is 
grass grown and is no longer filled with gorgeous 
equipages or with gaily caparisoned horses. Chan- 
cellor Wythe's house remains, haunted by many 
ghosts, also the homes of Peyton and* Edmund Ran- 
dolph, and of Wm. Wirt, John Marshall, and John 
Blair, with their quaint stone steps, Colonial door- 
ways, and brass knockers, with their dormer win- 
dows, "offices," and old rose gardens. Williamsburg 
has charming interiors — large rooms furnished with 

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Virginia s Second Colonial Capital 

antique furniture, paintings of ancestors by famous 
artists of the last century, delightful old brasses, 
curious bits of china, and here and there a glimpse 
of a Chippendale staircase or chair. The old Gar- 
rett home there was spoken of in a Virginia Gazette 
of 1763. The oldest part of the house has a quaint 
staircase; the only one like it in Virginia is at 
Lower Brandon on the James. The front porch is 
tiled with square red brick tiles like those in one of 
the old chancels at Jamestown, and its door has a 
curious old knocker of colored brass, showing its 
antiquity. 

In the center of the town still stand two buildings 
designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the courthouse, 
built in 1769, and the old Powder Horn, which has 
seen many vicissitudes, having been alternately a 
market, a school, a church, and a dancing school. 
It is now a museum and contains memorial win- 
dows to Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., "the rebel," and Alex- 
ander Spottswood, "the best governor Virginia ever 
had." 

Bruton Church was "remodeled" in 1840 so as to 
be fairly unrecognizable with its partition midway 
of the nave and its chancel against the partition. 
The town clock which was put into the steeple at 
that time ceased for many years to mark the flight 
of time but has now been put in order and strikes 
the hours. The Jamestown font from which Poca- 
hontas is said to have been baptized is one of the 
valued possessions of Bruton Church, which has 
also fallen heir to the Jamestown communion ser- 
vice bearing the date 1661, and owns two others 




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which are highly prized — the Queen Anne set, 
of silver gilt, beautifully chased, and the King 
George service of solid silver bearing the royal in- 
signia. Underneath the church and in the old grave- 
yard lie buried many men and women whose names 
are known to history, and one may wander for hours 
there deciphering the old inscriptions and living in 
the past. The old church was again used as a hos- 
pital during the Civil War after the battle of Fort 
Magruder. It has recently been restored in accord- 
ance with its original design, the governor's pew 
having its canopy of rich crimson velvet which bears 
upon it the royal arms of England, sent from that 
country as the gift of the Spottswood family. Presi- 
dent Roosevelt has presented the church with a lec- 
tern, on which will rest a Bible, the gift of King 
Edward of England, to be presented by the Bishop 
of London at the time of the meeting of the General 
Convention in October 1907. 

William and Mary College is not only alive but 
prospering. Its main building was burned in 1862 
after ninety per cent of the students had left to go 
to the Civil War. But it was rebuilt on the old plan 
and looks much as it did when first designed. Braff- 
erton Hall was not long an Indian school but is still 
used as one of the college buildings. In 1888 a nor- 
mal department was added which now attracts the 
larger number of students. The statue of Lord 
Botetourt, much defaced, stands in the walk half- 
way between the gate and the college. His body 
rests beneath the college chapel with those of Gen- 
eral Nelson and Peyton Randolph. Several new 

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Virginia's Second Colonial Capital 

buildings indicate the present prosperity of the col- 
lege. In the interesting and ancient library which 
has a valuable Virginia department, and whose walls 
are lined with engravings, portraits, and maps, the 
the charter of the Phi Beta Kappa, and many other 
relics, are preserved files of the Virginia Gazette, 
the Southern Literary Messenger, and many valu- 
able antiques, among them the first edition of Thom- 
son's Seasons printed in London in 1730, and a 
copy of Livy printed in Venice in 1498. 



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XII 

YORKTOWN— THE WATERLOO OF THE 
REVOLUTION 

AMONG the Indians living in Eastern Vir- 
ginia under the dominion of King Powhatan 
were the Cheskiacks, who had a village on 
a bluff overlooking the York (then called the Pa- 
munkey) and distant only ten or twelve miles from 
his capital — Werawocomoco. This was the first 
settlement on the site of Yorktown. Later these 
Indians moved across the river into Gloucester 
County, and colonists settled in 1630 on or near the 
site of their village, keeping its Indian name but 
changing the name of the river to the Charles. To 
keep out the savages and give the settlers a chance 
to raise cattle, it was proposed to build a palisade 
stretching from "Cheskiack on the Charles to Mar- 
tin's Hundred (where Carter's Grove now stands) 
on the Powhatan," and this was actually done in 
1634 at a cost of twelve hundred pounds. Although 
it took one hundred pounds a year to keep this pali- 
sade in repair, it probably more than paid for itself 
in the profit that accrued to the colonists from the 
stock they were able to raise within it. A court was 
held on Charles River in this same year, probably 
on the spot now known as Temple Farm, from the 
ruins of a church with double walls found there, 

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The Waterloo of the Revolution 

which are believed by the antiquarian, President 
Tyler of William and Mary College, to be those of 
the village church of York Parish. This plantation 
was afterwards the summer home of Governor 
Spottswood and is now known as the Moore House. 

At Cheskiack was built one of the five warehouses 
in the Colony, to which planters were obliged to 
bring their crops to be inspected and from which 
they could be taken only to be shipped to England. 
Later, in order to increase the importance of James- 
town, the capital, they were required to send their 
tobacco there to be shipped. Doubtless there was 
much evasion of these laws and the cave now known 
as Cornwallis's Cave was probably dug out of the 
bluff by some enterprising planter to assist in this 
evasion. 

The "city" of Yorktown had its birth in the Act 
for Ports passed in 1691 which required the owners 
of certain plantations to sell town sites of fifty acres 
each for ten thousand pounds of tobacco. In York 
County it was the plantation of Benjamin Read from 
which fifty acres were sold and laid off in half-acre 
lots to establish Yorktown on what was henceforth 
known as the York River. And so, having a school 
and church, custom house and courthouse, stocks 
and pillory, the "city" led a placid eixstence for 
nearly a century, cultivating the same fields that the 
Indians had, though impoverishing the once fertile 
soil by continual planting of tobacco. The planters 
shipped their money crop (tobacco) to England and 
received in exchange the necessities of life ; for rec- 
reation they fished and sailed on their broad river, 

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The Waterloo of the Revolution 

enjoying all the gayeties of pre-Revolutionary life 
in the Virginia Colony. 

That life in Yorktown was not too primitive may 
be judged from the appearance of the Nelson House, 
a fine specimen of Colonial architecture with its 
lofty rooms and solid walls. Up and down its cir- 
cular stone steps fashionable Colonial dames tripped 
to party or ball or to a visit at a neighboring planta- 
tion, and numerous gallants no doubt attended 
them. The small windows, solid shutters, and mas- 
sive door indicate that even in the midst of the 
gayety there was need of protection from attack by 
the Indians. George Mason, Washington, Jefferson, 
and Lafayette have slept in this house and thither 
Cornwallis retired after being shelled out of Secre- 
tary Nelson's house on the hill. The historic man- 
sion of the Nelsons was built by Thomas Nelson, 
known as "Scotch Tom," the father of William Nel- 
son, President of the King's Council, and the grand- 
father of General Thomas Nelson, signer of the 
Declaration of Independence and war Governor of 
Virginia, the most patriotic and illustrious of his 
race. When money was needed to pay the troops 
during the Revolution and to run the Government, 
as Virginia's credit was low, he borrowed money 
on his personal credit to such an extent that after 
his death his vast estates went for the public debts, 
leaving his family penniless. 

Quiet little Yorktown suddenly became, in 1781, 
the central figure of the Revolutionary stage. In 
order to capture Arnold, who had burned Richmond 
and raided the plantations on the James River, 

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The Waterloo of the Revolution 

Washington decided to send both the American and 
French forces into Virginia. Cornwallis, assuming 
command of the British forces, sent Arnold back to 
New York and tried to destroy Lafayette's army 
in the interior of Virginia, but not succeeding in 
this he returned to the sea and was ordered to en- 
trench himself at Yorktown. How securely he did 
this and how when he wished to leave his trenches 
he could not, being completely hemmed in and at 
the mercy of the combined forces under the per- 
sonal command of Washington, all the world 
knows. 

If you visit Yorktown to-day, what you may not 
remember of the eleven-day siege will be recalled to 
your memory by the intensely patriotic and enthusi- 
astic keeper of the National Cemetery hard by the 
battlefield. He will show you in the distance the 
line of breastworks completely encircling the vil- 
lage, with Fort Hamilton on the right overgrown 
with clambering blackberry vines, and the whole 
circle gay with the yellow flowers of the broom ; and 
though you know that these are fortifications of a 
later struggle and that the redoubt taken by dashing 
young Colonel Hamilton has long since disappeared, 
you do not refuse to give your imagination rein and 
repeople the trenches before Yorktown. You see 
Washington's line forming a crescent before the 
breastworks; on the right American troops under 
Lafayette, on the left the French under Rocham- 
beau. You see De Grasse's fleet in the river, the 
tall masts rising over the blufT, and you realize that 
no retreat for the British is possible that way. You 

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The Waterloo of the Revolution 

trace out the lines of the first parallel and see Wash- 
ington putting the match to the first gun with his 
own hand. You hear the cannonade begin and con- 
tinue almost without interruption for four days. 
What a target that house on the hill is ! It is Secre- 
tary Nelson's, and Cornwallis is there. The ven- 
erable secretary is permitted to join his sons within 
the American lines and then shell after shell strikes 
the house until Cornwallis must needs find better 
protection behind the solid shutters and stone walls 
of the old Nelson mansion. The master of that 
mansion is leading in person the State militia, and, 
seeing his troops' hesitation to injure the old house, 
himself trains a gun on the enemy's retreat. 

You see the second parallel established and hear 
the resolve to storm the place. You join gallant 
young Hamilton in his sortie and are close behind 
him when he mounts the works from the shoulder 
of one of his men and shouts, "Tell the Baron (the 
French officer who was attacking the other redoubt) 
that my redoubt is carried and ask where he is." 
"Tell the Marquis," answered the Frenchman, "that 
I am not in mine but will be in five minutes." You 
see that the whole British line of works is captured 
and that the contest is practically decided. You 
are thinking of the desperate efforts made by the 
British to escape — of the attempts to retake the 
works, to run the gauntlet of the fleet, to get across 
to Gloucester Point and join Tarleton — when you 
are suddenly brought back to the present by the 
voice of the old keeper: "Yes, sir, God Almighty 
won that battle, sir. Yes, sir, didn't He send a big 

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The Waterloo of the Revolution 

storm and a black night and make the British turn 
back? Yes, sir, He did. The Lord be praised." And 
now he tells you that you are standing just where 
the British army marched slowly and dejectedly out, 
carrying their arms and with colors cased, between 
the American and French ranged in lines a mile 
long on either side of the road. Washington was 
on horseback with his aides at the head of the 
American line and Count Rochambeau, similarly 
surrounded, at the head of the French line. Corn- 
wallis, who had signed the articles of capitulation 
in the Moore House three hours before, was rep- 
resented by one of his generals who conducted the 
surrender. A monument, recently erected, marks 
the probable site of the event. 

You drive on by a broom-bordered and grass- 
grown road to the Moore House on a bluff near the 
shore about a mile from the village, and look with 
interest at the spot where one of the most momen- 
tous events in the history of America took place. 
The antique roof and the rooms with corner fire- 
places bespeak the age of the house, and its situa- 
tion on the breezy bluff indicates the attraction it 
had for busy Governor Spottswood when he wished 
to rest from the cares of state in the gay little cap- 
ital, Williamsburg. Driving into sleepy old York- 
town, which has evidently never recovered from the 
bombardment, you stop to examine the tall and 
stately monument erected to the American soldiers 
who fell during the siege, and note in the village the 
ancient custom house, once the fashionable rendez- 
vous for the young gentlemen about town. That it 

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The Waterloo of the Revolution 

is the oldest one in America is very easy to believe 
as you examine its moss-covered, peaked roof, thick 
walls, and massive oaken doors and shutters. The 
Nelson House still remains to tell of past prosperity, 
and a little old church stands on the hill with the 
graves beside it of the illustrious men who helped to 
make their country free — three generations of Nel- 
sons — and beside them their friends and neighbors. 
But a short distance up the York River, on the 
Gloucester side, stands the Page homestead, Rose- 
well, a fine old Colonial mansion; and on land be- 
longing to the estate, near Werowocomoco, is an 
interesting relic called Powhatan's Chimney, said to 
have belonged to a house built for Powhatan by 
John Smith in response to the Indian monarch's 
requisition for "a house, a grindstone, fifty swords, 
some guns, a cock and hen, with much copper, and 
many beads." The fireplace is wide enough to roast 
an ox. It was at Werowocomoco that Pocahontas 
saved the life of John Smith. 



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XIII 

RICHMOND AND THE JAMES RIVER 
PLANTATIONS 

ON June 29, 1776, the Virginia Colony ceased 
to be and the Commonwealth began. The 
Convention of 1775, on account of Lord 
Dunmore's attitude, had been obliged to leave the 
Colonial capital — Williamsburg — and met in St. 
John's Church in the little village of Richmond. 
Here Patrick Henry, soon to be made Governor of 
the Commonwealth, made his world-famous speech, 
ending with the oft-quoted words : "Give me liberty 
or give me death." The public records soon fol- 
lowed the Convention, for safekeeping, and with 
them the offices of the government; thus Richmond 
became Virginia's third capital, by the necessities of 
war, the removal being made legal in 1779 by an 
Act of the Assembly. 

At this time there were less than three hundred 
houses in Richmond, for it had not been in existence 
much more than thirty years, and towns in those 
days did not grow, like mushrooms, in a single 
night. It was founded by Colonel William Byrd of 
Westover on the James, who wrote in 1733 in his 
"Journey to the Land of Eden": "When we got 
home we laid the foundations of two large cities — 
one at Shacco's to be called Richmond and the other 

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The James River Plantations 

at the Point of Appamattucks River to be named 
Petersburg." The invitation to all people to come 
to Richmond to live was published in the first 
Colonial newspaper, the Virginia Gazette, established 
in 1736. It was settled almost wholly by Scotch or 
Irish merchants and nothing of importance, save 
skirmishes with the Indians, happened there until 
the traitor Arnold moved against it when he in- 
vaded Virginia in 1781. Anchoring near James- 
town he went the next day as far as Westover, 
below Richmond which then had a popluation of 
only eighteen hundred persons, half of whom were 
slaves. Arnold landed his troops and marched into 
the town, meeting with no resistance, for Jefferson, 
then Governor, unable to assemble an adequate 
force of militia, had taken the public records and 
gone with them to a place of safety. The cannon 
factory on the hill was destroyed, many buildings 
were burned, and all the tobacco in the place went 
up in smoke. All this Arnold did in twenty-four 
hours and then retired to Westover, giving Jeffer- 
son a chance to come back! 

After the close of the Revolutionary War Rich- 
mond began to grow into a city. The capitol, 
finished in 1789, was built after a model brought by 
Jefferson from France, which may still be seen in 
the State Library. It is a stucco copy of the Maison 
Carree in Nismes, France, a Roman temple built by 
Augustus Caesar as a memorial to his two sons who 
had been killed in battle. Probably no building in 
the United States has been the scene of more 
famous debates and certainly no legislative halls 

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The James River Plantations 

have heard the voices of more distinguished states- 
men. The roll call is a long one — Tyler, Mason, 
Madison, Monroe, Jefferson, Wythe, Chief Justice 
Marshall, John Randolph of Roanoke. In 1861 the 
accidents of war again made Richmond a capital, 
this time of the Confederate States, and the Con- 
federate Congress during the four years of its exist- 
ence met in the capitol building. Recently two 
large wings have been added to it, making it much 
more beautiful and imposing. In the rotunda 
stands Houdon's famous statue of Washington, said 
to be one of the most priceless pieces of marble in 
the world. The equestrian statue of Washington in 
Capitol Square is also a wonderful piece of work. 
It was drawn by hand by enthusiastic citizens from 
the ship landing to its present position. Around the 
pedestal of the monument stand figures of some of 
the "founders of the nation" — Virginians all — 
George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Lewis, 
Patrick Henry, James Madison, and John Marshall. 
Richmond is a city of monuments. Prominent 
among the others are the equestrian statue of Lee 
and the monument to Stonewall Jackson. 

Richmond churches are closely associated with 
its history — St. John's, the oldest, with Patrick 
Henry and the Convention of 1788, made up of such 
men as Madison, Monroe, Marshall, Mason, Wythe, 
Pendleton, Harrison, and Edmund Randolph. The 
Monumental Church is built upon the site of the 
theatre which was burned in 181 1 with great loss 
of life, and contains in an urn the ashes of the vic- 
tims, among whom was the governor of the state. 

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The James River Plantations 

Bishop Moore and Bishop Meade have both 
preached in this church. St. Paul's has the distinc- 
tion of having given its bell to be cast into cannon 
for use in the Civil War. President Davis and Gen- 
eral Lee worshiped there, and there Mr. Davis re- 
ceived the telegram announcing that the lines had 
been broken at Petersburg and that Richmond 
would have to be evacuated. The home of the Pres- 
ident, known as the "White House of the Confed- 
eracy," is now the Confederate Museum. General 
Lee's family lived during the war in what is at 
present the home of the Virginia Historical Society. 

The capital of the Confederacy was of course the 
strategic point of the struggle of 1861-5. No less 
than fifteen pitched battles and twenty-five skir- 
mishes were fought in its vicinity during those 
years, and the Confederate army was besieged in 
the city for nearly a year before it was evacuated. 
Libby Prison, whose name and history are so well 
known, is no longer in Richmond, having been re- 
moved to Chicago at the time of the World's Fair. 
These few sentences suggest pages of both written 
and unwritten history. In beautiful Hollywood 
Cemetery overlooking the James rest twelve thou- 
sand Southern soldiers and the President who rep- 
resented their cause. Here, too, lie the bodies of the 
United States Presidents Monroe and Tyler, of 
Henry A. Wise, war Governor of Virginia, Bishop 
Meade, and John Randolph of Roanoke. 

In the last forty years Richmond has increased 
rapidly in population and prosperity until it is now 
the largest and wealthiest city in the state. As in 

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The James River Plantations 

Colonial years it is closely associated with the plan- 
tations on the James, for their owners in many cases 
have houses in the capital also. The Byrds of West- 
over, the Harrisons of Berkeley and Brandon, and 
the Carters of Shirley are names as well known in 
Richmond as in their stately mansions overlooking 
the broad "Powhatan." The founder of Virginia's 
capital, Honorable William Evelyn Byrd, sleeps in 
the garden at Westover under a monument on 
which the curious may read his biography. He was 
the most illustrious of his line — "one of the bright- 
est stars in the social skies of Colonial Virginia." 
He was the author of the Westover MSS., a fasci- 
nating account of plantation life in his generation. 
His "Memoirs," published several years ago, are 
also of great interest. His daughter, "The Fair 
Evelyn," whose portrait hangs in the drawing room 
at Lower Brandon, was the greatest beauty of her 
time and has been appropriated by Mary Johnston 
as one of the characters in "Audrey." Westover 
house is one of the best specimens of Colonial archi- 
tecture in America. All the lofty rooms are wain- 
scoted to the ceiling; the twisted balustrades of the 
stairs at the back of the great hall are of solid ma- 
hogany. The vandalism of the soldiers during the 
Civil War destroyed much of quaint interest and 
priceless value, but the restoration has been thor- 
ough and the house is probably the best preserved 
of Virginia Colonial houses. 

Berkeley, the adjoining plantation, was the birth- 
place of President Harrison. It also is in a good 
state of preservation. In common with most of the 

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The James River Plantations 

other James River plantations, it suffered severely 
in the Indian massacre of 1622. Shirley, the seat of 
the Carters, was laid out in 161 1 by Sir Thomas 
Dale, Governor of the Colony, who took an active 
part in forwarding the marriage of Rolfe and Poca- 
hontas. Shirley was so "well fortified" during the 
Indian massacre in 1622 that it was a place of refuge 
and no one was killed there. Soon after their mar- 
riage Rolfe and Pocahontas moved to Varina, which 
was probably the birthplace of their son, Thomas 
Rolfe, from whom many Virginians are proud to 
own their descent. All the James River families 
and indeed all old Virginia families are related to 
one another, as the names plainly show — Carter 
Page, Carter Harrison, Byrd Harrison, etc. At 
Brandon, just above Jamestown, lived another 
branch of the Harrison family. The wings of the 
Lower Brandon house were built by Nathaniel Har- 
rison about 1712. His son, Benjamin Harrison, was 
a roommate of Thomas Jefferson's at William and 
Mary and the latter planned the square central part 
of the Lower Brandon house. This plantation was 
pillaged by Arnold during the Revolution and raided 
by General Butler's troops in the Civil War, when 
the outbuildings were burned and the stock stolen; 
the mansion was seriously injured and would have 
been destroyed but for a telegram from President 
Lincoln forbidding it. Fortunately the ladies of the 
household had left for Richmond two days before, 
carrying with them everything of value that was 
movable. The house is still owned by Harrisons 
and shows signs of the ravages of war in the dents 

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The James River Plantations 

made by bullets over the door and in other ways 
within the house. It contains valuable old silver, and 
historic portraits. Upper Brandon was originally in- 
cluded in the Brandon estate. The house was severely 
damaged during the war and has never been fully 
restored. Carter's Grove, below Jamestown, is a 
fine old mansion built by "King" Carter, a wealthy 
Colonial planter. It was the scene in Jefferson's 
time of his unsuccessful wooing of Rebecca Burwell. 



104 



INDEX 



Archer's Hope, 12 

Armstrong, Gen. S. C, 78-79 

Arnold, Benedict, 93, 99, 103 

Artillery School, 26 

A. P. V. A., work of preserva- 
tion at Jamestown, 11, 14, 
15 ; Williamsburg, 87 

Bacon's Castle, 12 

Bacon's Rebellion, 10, 14, 15, 42 ; 
memorial window, 88. 

Barron, Commodore James, mod- 
el of iron-clad, 20 ; biography 
62-66 

Barron, Richard, 62 

Barron : Samuel and James, the 
younger, 63 

Basse's Choice, 12 

Berkeley, 102 

Berkeley, Sir Wm., 14, 81 

Bethesda Chapel, 72 

Blackbeard, 47-50 ; ballad, 50 

Blackbeard's Point, 49, 68 

Blair, Dr. James, grave, 13 ; com- 
missary, 43 ; charter for Wil- 
liam and Mary College, 81 

Blair, Sarah, grave, 13 

Bonnet, Stede, 47, 48 

Botetourt, Lord, 85 ; statue, 89 

Brafferton Hall, 43, 81, 89 

Brandon, Lower, 102, 103-104 

Brandon, Upper, 104 

Bruton Church, 83, 86, 88-89 

Bryce, Ambassador, 15 

Buckroe, 38, 41 

Burgesses, 10, 12 ; monument, 15 ; 
at Williamsburg, 82, 83 

Butler, Gen. B. P., buys Soldiers' 
Home, 28, 76 ; in command 
Ft. Monroe, 71 

Butler School, 78 

Byrd, Col. Wm., founder of Rich- 
mond, 98 ; grave, 102 

Camp Hamilton, 71 

Cape Charles, 25, 46 

Cape Henry, landing at, 7, 17 ; 
lighthouse, 17; 20, 25, 46 

Carter's Grove, 104 

Cary, Col. John B., 74, 75 

ChamberLin Hotel, 28 

Charles Town, resort of pirates, 
45, 47 

Chesapeake Bay, 16, 23, 26, 27, 
59, 60 

Chesapeake College, 28, 76 

Cheskiack Indians, Treaty, 41 ; 
village, 91 ; palisade, 91 

Cockburn, Admiral, 20 ; attack on 
Hampton, 68 

Colonial Damps of America, 15 

Contrabands, 71, 77, 78 



Committee of Safety, 60, 62 

Communion silver, St. John's, 56 ; 
Jamestown, 88 ; Bruton, 89 

Cornwallis, Lord : in Hampton 
Roads, 64, 65, 67 ; Yorktown 
Campaign, 86 ; cave, 92 ; 
siege, 93-96 

Craney Island, 19 ; battery, 20 ; 
burning of Merrimac, 20 

Crutchiield, Col., 68 

Cunningham, Lieut., escape, 63 

Dale, Sir Thos., arrival at 
Kecoughtan, 35, 36 

Davis, Pres. Jefferson, at Ft. 
Monroe, 26 ; in Richmond, 
101 

DeGrasse, Count, 24, 94 

De la Warre, Lord, 9, 13, 53 

Dunmore, Lord, 20 ; stealing of 
gunpowder, 59 ; bombardment 
of Norfolk, 60, 62, 85 

Eaton School, see Syms School 

Elizabeth River, 19, 21 

Elizabeth City County ; naming 
and extent, 36 ; vinedressers, 
38 ; first free school, 40 ; pop- 
ulation, 41 ; value of slaves. 
42 ; property, 44 ; exposure to 
attack, 59 ; free-school sys- 
tem, 73 

Fort Algernon, 38 

Charles, 35 

George, 23, 62 

Henry, 35 

Monroe, 19, history and de- 
fenses. 24. 26 ; in Civil War, 
71, 77 

Nelson, 21 

— Norfolk, 21 

Wool, see Rip Raps 



Fox Hill, 41 

Freedmen's Bureau, 78 

Gates, Sir Thos., captures Ke- 
coughtan, 35 

Garrett home, 88 

Gosport Navy Yard, 20 

Hamilton, Alexander, 94, 95 

Hampton : early schools, 40 ; site, 
43 ; old graveyard, 46 ; port 
of entry, 52 ; first church, 54 ; 
second church, 55 ; St. John's, 
55 ; in Revolution, 62, 67 ; in 
war of 1812, 68, 69 ; burning, 
70; schools (1850-70), 73-79 

Hampton Academy, see Syms 
School 

Hampton Hospital, 28, 71 

Hampton Institute, 19 ; site, 55, 
71 ; beginnings, 78, 79 

Hampton Military Academy, 75 



INDEX— Continued 



Hampton River, see Southamp- 
ton 

Hampton Roads : 16-21 ; naval 
display at Exposition, 17 ; 
battle of Monitor and Merri- 
mac, 18 ; surroundings, 19 ; 
defenses, 26 ; capture of pi- 
rate, 46 ; Virginia Navy, 61-65 

Harrison, Nathaniel, 103 

Henry, Patrick, 57, 58, 59; 85, 

98, 100 ; banner. 59, 61 
Hope, Mrs. Jane, 69 

Hunt, Rev. Robert, tablet, 15 

Hygeia Hotel, history, 27 

Indians : as slaves, 42 ; plan to 
educate, 43, 44 ; school at Ft. 
Christanna, 53 ; Brafferton 
Hall, 81, 89. See also Ke- 
coughtan, Cheskiak Indians 

Jamestown : 7-15 ; settlement, 7- 
11 ; site of landing, 13 ; ship- 
load of maidens and first car- 
go of slaves, 10 ; saved fro tn 
massacre, 12 ; fires, 10 ; de- 
sertion of, 11 ; breakwater, 
11 ; "third ridge," 14 ; monu- 
ments. 15 ; Tercentennial, 15, 
16, 17 

Jamestown church : first, 9 ; 
first brick, 10 ; tower, 10, 13 ; 
foundations, 12 ; graveyard, 
13, 14 ; restoration of brick, 
15 ; communion silver, 88 ; 
font, 88 

Jamestown Island : no town, 11 ; 
present condition, 12 ; monu- 
ments, 15 

James River, 7 ; historic associa- 
tions 12, 59 ; plantations, 93, 
102-104 

Jefferson, Thos., 57, 58, 85, 86, 

99, 103, 104 

Kecoughtan : 30-38 ; visits of 
John Smith, 33-35; forts, 35, 
38 ; change of name, 36 

Kecoughtan Indians : meetings 
with John Smith, 16, 33, 35 ; 
village and manner of life, 
30-35 ; treaty with whites, 41 

Kempsville, "Old Hundred" 
church, 21 

Knights of Golden Horseshoe, 54 

Lafayette, 86, 94; in Norfolk, 22 

Lincoln School, 78 

Lockwood. J. C, 77 

Ludwell, Col. Philip, 14 

Magruder, Gen., 70 - 

Mallory, Col. Francis, 65 

Martin's Hundred, 12, 91 



Maynard, Lieut., capture of 
Blackbeard, 49 

Merrimac (Virginia), history, 20 

Middle Plantation, see Williams- 
burg 

Mill Creek, 24, 28, 71 

Moore House, 92, 96 

Monitor and Merrimac, battle, 18 

Monumental Church, Richmond, 
100 

National Soldiers' Home : 19 ; de- 
scription, 28 ; as Chesapeake 
Hospital, 71 ; cemetery, 29 

Naval Hospital, 21 

Navigation Acts, responsible for 
piracy, 45 

Navy Yard, history, 20 

Necotowance, treaty, 41 

Negroes : first cargo, 10 ; no sep- 
arate churches, 39 ; number, 
41, 42, 51 ; value, 42 ; treat- 
ment, 52 ; baptism, 56 ; Cap't 
Mark Starlin, 65 ; after burn- 
ing of Hampton, 70 ; schools 
at Hampton, 77-79 

Nelson, Gen. Thos., 93 ; grave, 97 

Nelson House, 93 

Newport, Cap't, 7, 11 

Newport News, 11 ; settlement, 19 

Nicholson, Gov., 44, 46 

Norfolk: in War of 1812, 20; 
navy yard, 21, 27 ; settlement, 
21 ; St. Paul's, 21 ; in Revolu- 
tion, 21, 22 ; later history, 
22 ; bombardment, 60 

Oceana, Chapel by the Sea, 21 

Old Point, see Point Comfort 

Opechancanough, 13, 41 

Pace's Pains, 12 

Parson's school, 40 

Page, Sir John, 83, 97 

Peake, Mrs. Mary, 77 

Petersburg, 99, 101 

Pembroke Farm, graveyard. 46 

Phi Beta Kappa, organized, 86 

Phillips, Col., J. C, 74 

Phoebus, Harrison, 28 

Pirates, 45-50 

Pirates' Road, 49 

Pocahontas : place of marriage 
and baptism, 13 : monument, 
15 ; rescue of John Smith, 97 ; 
home, 102 

Pochins, meeting with John 
Smith, 33 ; driven from Ke- 
coughtan, 35 

Point Comfort (Old Point); 19: 
naming, 23 ; forts, 23-28 ; in 
Civil War, 71 



INDEX-Continued 



Portsmouth, navy yard, 20 ; set- 
tlement, 21 

Powder Horn, 83, 88 

Powhatan, 33, 91 

I'ovvhatan oaks, 17, 22; chimney, 
97 

Princess Anne County, Colonial 
churches, 21 ; witch, 21, 52 

Queen Anne, silver, 21, 89 ; bell, 
56, 69 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 21, 82 

Raleigh Tavern, 82, 85, 87 

Ratcliffe, Cap't John, fortifies 
Point Comfort, 23 

Richmond : 22, 93 ; made capi- 
tal, 98 ; capitol, 99 ; Confed- 
erate capital, 100 ; churches, 
100, 101 ; in Civil War, 101 

Ringfield, 41 

Rip Raps, location, 19 ; history, 
25 

Rochambeau, Count, 94-96 

Sabbath, observance, 39, 40 

St. John's Church, Hampton ; 55- 
56 ; 69-70 ; steeple struck by 
lightning, 67 ; in Civil War, 
76 

St. John's Church, Richmond, 98, 
100 

St. Paul's Church, Norfolk, 21 

St. Paul's Church, Richmond, 101 

Servant, Richard B., 69 

Sewell's Point, 16-20 

Shirley, 103 

Smith, Cap't John : monument, 
15; lands at Cape Henry, 16, 
17 ; visits Kecoughtan, 33-35 ; 
rescue by Pocahontas, 97 

Smithfield church, 39 

Southampton, Earl of, 35, 56 

Southampton (Hampton) River: 
35, 36 ; ferrv, 42 ; in Revo- 
lution, 62 ; War of 1812, 68 

Spottswood, Gov., 49. 53-54 ; 
memorial window, 88 ; Tem- 
ple Farm, 92, 96 



Syms-Eaton School, 40 74, 75 

Temple Farm, 91, 92 

Tobacco : as money, 10, 43, 92 ; 
culture, 10, 38; storehouses, 
42 

Tyler, Lyon G., 55, 92 

Varina, 102 

Virginia : capes. 7, 9. 46, 49 ; 
navy, 20, 59-66; churches, 
39 ; first free school, 40 ; pop- 
ulation, 42 ; roads, 42 ; towns, 
43 ; first college, 43 ; postal 
service, 44, 52, 53; pirates, 
45-50 ; public-school system, 
79 

Virginia Gazette, 51, 52, 60, 90, 
99 

Virginia General Assembly : first 
meeting, 10, 12 ; roads. 42 ; 
public schools, 73, 74 ; Hamp- 
ton Institute, 79 ; Richmond 
made capital, 98 

Washington, George, 57, 58, 85, 
94-96 ; monuments, 100 

Whiting, Col. Thos., 63 

Wilder, Cap't Chas. B., 77 

William and Mary College : be- 
ginnings. 43, 81-82 ; famous 
students, 85 ; Phi Beta Kap- 
pa, 86 ; present condition, 89 ; 
library, 90 

Williamsburg : made capital, 11, 
80; Pirates' Road, 49; steal- 
ing of gunpowder, 59 ; his- 
toric buildings, 82, 83 ; social 
life, 84 ; birthplace of Revolu- 
tion, 85 ; present appearance, 
87 

"Witchduck," 21 

Werawocomoco, 91 

Westover, 98, 99, 102 

Wren, Sir Christopher, 82, 88 

Wythe. Chancellor, home, 57, 87 

Yeardley, Gov., 20, 56 

Yorktown (Cheskiack) 63 ; his- 
tory. 91-96 ; custom house, 97 



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